Designing Your Melody
by Miss Malice 202
Summary: Marinette, an up and coming designer, has a run in with destiny after crashing into a stranger while running to a job, leaving behind one of her designs: the only clue left behind for Luka, who is immediately inspired by this frantic strangers style and vows to track her down at any cost. But he doesn't know that he already knows her, just not in person.
1. Chapter 1 - Mine

Designing Your Melody: Chapter 1 - Mine

Rushing through the streets of Paris like an absolute madwoman, Marinette DuPain-Cheng began to wonder what course of events had resulted in her current panicked state. Then again, she had to admit that it was absolutely her own doing. As usual.

A few days ago, she had received a phone call from Jagged Stone's assistant, Penny Rolling, requesting a special commission for Marinette to design an outfit for the rocker to wear to promote the release of his latest single. Completely over the moon to be asked by THE Jagged Stone to design the clothes that would be featured on tv and magazines all over the country, she hadn't hesitated for a second to accept the job and had begun drawing design after design after design. But in her excitement – and feeling the pressure of a job of this magnitude – nothing she had come up with seemed good enough.

So after drawing non-stop and pulling one last all nighter before her initial concept meeting, Marinette had finally compiled a portfolio full of designs for Jagged to choose from. Only for her to sleep through her alarm. Again. When she had finally woken up to her phone buzzing incessantly next to her ear where she had laid her head on her desk to "rest her eyes for a minute", she had shrieked when she realized that she only had fifteen minutes to get to her meeting. All the way across town!

She had reeled back in such a panic that she flipped her computer chair right over, leaving her dazed and confused lying on the floor on her back. She scrambled to her closet and tried to find an outfit appropriate for an up and coming designer to represent herself and her professionalism, because if there was anything that Marinette needed help with, it was trying to be "professional".

She grabbed a pair of pale pink skinny jeans with a large black bow where the belt buckle would be, a loose pink top with black lace embellishments on the hem, and a sleek studded leather jacket. Shoving her feet into a pair of black lace ballet flats, she quickly grabbed her portfolio and dashed down her stairs, calling out a greeting to her parents on the way out.

"Bye Maman, bye Papa! Wish me luck!"

She didn't wait to hear their response as she made a bee-line straight for the nearest metro station.

_Oh my god, Marinette, way to drop the ball! Not only am I going to be late for the biggest job I've ever had, but Jagged Stone is probably not going to like anything I came up with! He's going to laugh at my designs and tell me that he's changed his mind that he wants me to be his designer! Then I'll never get another job because who would want to hire someone that Jagged Stone laughed at and I'll have to work at my parents' bakery for the rest of my life and I'll never have my own place and I'll never get to have a hamster named __–_

Marinette's mental breakdown was abruptly interrupted when she turned a corner and slammed head-first into another person. She fell backward, landing hard on her butt as her portfolio went flying into the air, papers scattering around her.

"Aah! I am so sorry!" she scrambled to her hands and knees as she began to gather up her fallen designs. "I'm so clumsy. Please pardon me. I wasn't watching where I was going and I-" Her apologetic ramblings were cut off when a hand covered her own, stilling her frantic movements.

"It's okay," a soothing voice calmly murmured above her downcast head. "There's no harm done. Don't get so worked up. Your sound is so chaotic right now, try to calm down."

Marinette looked at the hand covering her own. It was masculine and strong, with black polish painting his nails and when she slowly withdrew her hand from under his, she could feel the subtle scrape of calluses on his fingertips.

Taking a deep breath, Marinette closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts. And immediately began to panic once again when she realized that SHE WAS GOING TO BE LATE! "Thank you for your help! Once again, I'm sorry for almost tackling you while you were walking down the sidewalk, minding your own business. I really have to go. Bye!" She gathered up the rest of her drawings and rushed off, not even glancing back at the boy crouched on the sidewalk stunned by the whirlwind that had just about knocked him off his feet.

Standing back up, he adjusted the guitar resting behind his back and was about to continue on his way when he noticed a piece of paper under his boot. Leaning down to pick it up, he gasped when he saw what was on it. It was – in a word – glorious.

He gazed at the drawing with his heartbeat echoing in his ears, creating a deep baseline for the melody he suddenly heard flowing through his soul. The design he stared at was of a punk rock style outfit. It showcased a male wearing studded and ripped black jeans, untied black combat boots, and a white screen printed tee. But the focal point of the entire design was the absolutely beautiful leather jacket that the designer had made separate sketches of to emphasize the details: teal plaid lining, black lace inserts, studded cuffs and chains hanging from the shoulders. It was a work of art that had the guitarist in awe.

_Did that girl draw this? _He wondered. He clenched the paper in his fist as he quickly turned and tried to run after her. Reaching the end of the block, he looked up and down the street trying to find out where she had run off to. But she was gone without a trace. With a sigh, he once again looked at her design. Narrowing his eyes just a bit, he noticed in the bottom corner, three small letters, the only clue to the mystery designer's identity. MDC

Smiling softly to himself, he folded the paper he held and stuck it into the back pocket of his jeans. _I have to find that girl. I have to find her and get her permission to make that outfit for me. She doesn't know it yet, but she made that jacket for me. And if I have to, I'll just have to convince her that it's already mine._

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

*I'm a little late to the game, but I fell in love with the Lukanette pairing and I wanted to participate in the February 2020 Lukanette Month event. so here's my submission for day 1: Mine. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated because I want to improve upon my writing.

Until next time, lovelies!

Also, it goes without saying that I don't own Miraculous Ladybug, or any of the characters, and this work of fiction is mine and mine alone. Don't copy it or post it on a third party website or app without my permission.*


	2. Chapter 2 - Time

Designing Your Melody: Chapter 2 - Time

Marinette was once again in a state of panic. She clutched her phone to her ear as she paced around her room, tearing at her midnight blue hair with her free hand as she rambled endlessly, not giving Alya on the other end a change of the line to get a single word in.

"I can't believe it, Alya! Today has been so insane. First, I sleep in so I'm almost late for my meeting with Jagged Stone. Then, I nearly trample some poor guy as I'm racing to make it there on time, falling on my butt and scattering the potential designs I had drawn up all over the streets of Paris. After I finally get them all gathered up, I almost die when I ran across the street because some idiot driver didn't see the crosswalk light was _green_ because he was too busy talking on the phone with his head up his butt. I mean, seriously, there are laws about that kind of thing for a reason." With a sigh, she falls back on her chaise and hugs its black decorative pillow to her chest in an attempt to comfort herself. "And then, when I finally get to the studio and meet with Jagged, I discover that I LOST ONE OF MY DESIGNS!

"I worked so hard on my portfolio and I'm such an idiot to just lose one of them. Granted, I was pretty sure that it wouldn't be something that Jagged Stone would be interested in because the teal I had picked out for the-"

"Girl," Alya tries to interrupt, but Marinette's tirade is on a roll and nothing could stop her now.

"-Accents on the jacket would have clashed with his signature purple and yellow, but still. What if someone picks it up, looks at it, and thinks that it's just so awful that they just throw it in the trash?"

"Marinette?"

"Or what if it's found and someone claims it as their own and they show it to Gabriel Agreste, and he hires them on the spot and they become an internationally known designer because they stole _my_ design? And then-"

"MARINETTE!" Finally at her wit's end with her best friends ridiculous tailspin, Alya yells to get Marinette's attention.

Shocked into silence and her ear ringing slightly from the outburst, Marinette stops and takes a breath for to the first time in the past five minutes. "I'm sorry, Alya. Today was just such a crazy day and I don't like the idea of my designs being out there for the world to see."

"I get how you feel, girl, but there's nothing you can do about it now. So instead of focusing on how your day went _wrong_, why don't you focus on how it went _right._ How did it go with Jagged? I know he loved your designs, but did you guys settle on a concept? What can you tell me? Can I post an exclusive story on my blog?"

Marinette giggled softly. Some things never change. "I'm sorry, but I can't give you anything yet. You know how it is. Non-Disclosure Agreement and all that. But I can tell you that Jagged's new single is amazing!"

"You got to hear it already?" she gasped in shock. "Oh girl, I am so jelly! I can't wait until you're a super famous designer with all sorts of famous connections and when that day comes, you're not allowed to forget your best friend in the entire world who loved you before you were a household name. And if you don't give me an exclusive interview with the mind behind Jagged's new look, I'll post every embarrassing picture I have of you on my blog, including the pic I have of you kissing a picture of Adrien's cologne ad back in high school when you were still obsessed over that poor, sweet, oblivious boy."

Marinette cringed at her threat. Just remembering how completely crazy she had been in high school made her shudder in disgust. She couldn't believe the way she had behaved at times. It had definitely been unhealthy and she was glad that she had grown up and gotten over her infatuation with her blond model friend.

After a years of unrequited pining and downright stalkerish behavior, she had finally accepted her defeat and come to terms with the fact that she and Adrien would be nothing but really good friends. And it was for the best as it would turn out.

Once she tucked her feelings for him into the darkest recesses of her heart, she had realized that he truly was an amazing friend and she was being unfair to him by trying to force him into a relationship that he truly wanted no part in. All he had wanted at the time was to have fun for the first time in his extremely sheltered life and to learn how to make friends. He wasn't ready for a relationship with anybody, let alone the first _true_ female friend he had made. In Marinette's opinion, Chloe Bourjeois didn't really count as Adrien's friend. She was far too selfish and egotistical to truly put another person's feelings before her own, a trait that Marinette felt was very important in a friendship.

So now, she counted Adrien a member of her inner circle and she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize their friendship. She had taken her obsession towards Adrien and turned that laser focus on her fashion designs.

Now, a 20 year old Marinette could consider herself a relatively successful freelance designer. She still hasn't been hired by any of the major fashion houses, but she was often contacted regarding commissions and requests that helped to support her passion. However, she was still holding out for a chance to work with her idol, Gabriel Agreste. Through her friendship with his son, she often got a heads up whenever he was holding a competition or accepting applications for designers, but so far, she hadn't been able to do more than win a few monetary prizes for her designs and speak to the fashion icon through the screen of his assistant's tablet.

But she wouldn't let her phase her. One of these days, she'd create clothing that would send the fashion world into a frenzy and then _the_ Gabriel Agreste would come crawling on his knees, begging her to work with him. But until that day came, Marinette would just have to do her best and live her life, one design at a time.

"Oh Alya," she giggled, "you know that when the time comes, I'll give you an exclusive interview and tell you everything I legally can."

"Good. Now that we've got that out of the way, isn't it time for us to get going? It's almost time, right?"

Sitting up on the chaise, she glanced at the clock above her sewing desk. "Yeah, you're right." Standing up, she walked over to her computer chair and sat down. "I'll see you in-game."

Hanging up her phone and putting it on silent, she plugged it in to the charger and set it on the desk next to her keyboard. With a few keystrokes, she changed the input on her monitor from her PC to her PlayBox, the latest generation game console that she had decorated with little ladybug stickers and affectionately called Tiki. She picked up her red controller, crossed her legs on her computer/gaming chair, and uttered the words she always jokingly said whenever she turned on her console:

"Tiki, spots on."

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Marinette had always been an avid gamer. Everyone who knew her knew that. So it came to no surprise that when her absolute favorite game, Ultimate Mecha Strike 3, came out with another sequel a two years ago, she had picked up a copy for herself the day it came out.

One of the features she had been most excited about with the new version was the idea that it would be a MMO fighting game. But it wasn't just fighting. It had exploration, collectables, seasonal events, and player versus player tournaments. It was a dream come true for Marinette. Looking back at the side-scrolling fighting game she had loved so much in high school, she couldn't help but make comparisons between herself and the game. The original version was great, but the new and improved game was so different, but so much better.

The first weekend after Ultimate Mecha Strike 4 had been released, Adrien had invited her to play together online. Knowing how much of a gamer that he himself was, she readily agreed, wanting someone else with similar passion to play with her. And she had had a BLAST. They had spent hours that weekend exploring the game mechanics, gathering collectible, taking out enemies, and just learning the game. After a few weeks of their friends blowing off plans to play video games, Nino and Alya picked up their own copies of the game and started playing with them.

Over time, their inseparable team had created a long standing tradition that every Friday night, they would get together online and play. Because they played so much and had such a great rapport amongst themselves, they eventually rose to the top of the leaderboards for tournaments.

Then, a year ago, for the one year anniversary of the release of Ultimate Mecha Strike 4, the creators released a new feature that changed the game for Marinette: clans. With the introduction of clans, she and her friends were an officially recognized team and they qualified for their own hideout where they could trade and share equipment, treasures, and in game credits. But unfortunately, it was also a double edged sword because now, her clan, "Miraculous Kwami", was bombarded with membership requests. She and her friends had agreed that they wouldn't allow just anyone to join them. They had to be able to keep up with them and contribute to their clan.

So after careful selection and intense tryouts, she and her three friends were joined by four other clan members. One of the requirements that was set in stone for their clan was that they got together every Friday night at 7pm. Allowances were made for certain circumstances, but it was agreed that they would play as much as possible together. To Marinette, it wasn't a big deal to spend a minimum of one night a week with her best friends.

It was with a smile on her face that she placed her headset on her head while she loaded her game. Selecting her avatar, she couldn't help but be excited to start killing noobs. Poor players who didn't know that she was the legendary "Ladybug" would soon discover that even though her avatar was small in build, she was built for speed and accuracy.

When the player selection screen finally loaded onto her screen, she looked at her avatar in admiration. The countless hours she had spent on this one character had led to the birth of this elite player. Her mecha was a bright, fire engine red, embellished with black pads on its shoulders, elbows, and knees. On its back, was a pair of swords, their scabbards the same red as its suit and their hilts wrapped with black leather. Its cockpit was a red helmet with two black circles around the eyes and a set of short antennae sprouting from the forehead area. Black elbow length gloves and knee length combat boots completed the ensemble.

With one final smile at her online persona, she pressed a button on her controller and loaded her character. She watched as her clan's headquarters loaded on the screen: an old, abandoned shrine. Seeing the dilapidated tori gates, she felt a thrill run up her spine in anticipation.

And, it would appear that she wasn't the first to arrive tonight.

She walked her avatar toward her other clanmate, clad in a dark teal and aqua mecha, a black and teal bow strapped to its back, and a vaguely reptilian looking cockpit. He must have seen the notification pop up on his screen announcing her arrival, because he turned around and bowed.

"Good evening, Lady luck," he greeted her, his soft voice filtering through her headphones.

"Hi there, Viperion." She waved. "Long time, no see"

Once again, she smiled. Tonight was going to be a fun night.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

*_Hey everyone, first and foremost, I'd like to say thank you so much for the fantastic response to chapter one. I'm blown away at how supportive you all have been. It's keeping me going and made me want to get this chapter out to you all as soon as I could._

_In regards to Ultimate Mecha Strike 4, think of it as a kind of mix between Destiny 2, Fortnite, and the original Mecha Strike 3 featured in the cartoon. The avatars aren't completely humanoid, but they're kind of like armor that the characters wear and control from within. I'm sure I'm not explaining it properly, but it makes sense in my head haha._

_Next chapter will focus primarily on Luka, because he's just so adorable and I can't wait to torture him with a slow burn, mistaken identity, near miss romance with our resident goofball._

_Until next time!*_


	3. Chapter 3 - Candy Hearts

Designing Your Melody: Chapter 3 - Candy Hearts

Luka Couffaine was, under normal circumstances, a pretty chill guy. To anyone who knew him, they would think that nothing could ruffle his feathers. Under normal circumstances.

This was definitely NOT one of those times.

He had been out delivering a package for the courier service he worked part time for when a tornado with midnight blue hair had collided with him, leaving her sprawled out on the sidewalk and the folder she had been carrying exploding like confetti. He couldn't help but chuckle at how utterly frantic she had been. She had been in such a panic, she even sounded chaotic; a cacophony of discordant notes and clashing chords. Apologizing profusely as she scrambled around to gather her papers, Luka felt the need to grab her hand, if only to distract her long enough to take a breath. It wouldn't do to have the poor girl pass out in the middle of the street because she had been hyperventilating so hard.

Then, as quickly as she had crashed into him, she took off again, sprinting away as fast as her feet could carry her. Still a little stunned from the encounter, he hadn't noticed the paper she had left behind in her hurry. But when it crinkled under his boot as he stood back up, he saw it.

He had definitely not anticipated being stunned speechless for a second time so soon after regaining his own stable footing. The sketch she had left behind spoke to his soul on a primal level. Normally, he didn't let things affect him so strongly, but there was just _something_ about the outfit that she had put to paper that lit a fire in his creative heart. The melody ringing in his ears as he gazed at that paper was overwhelming.

Snapping out of his reverie, Luka had attempted to chase after the girl, but she had disappeared without a trace. He looked down at the design to see if there was anything on it that could point him in the direction of his newest muse. And the fates had smiled down upon him: there, in the bottom right hand corner, were three small letters. MDC.

Relieved that he at least had a tiny clue as to who his mystery designer was, he had carefully folded up the page in his hand, stuck it in the inside pocket of the leather riding jacket he wore when he was making deliveries, and went back to work.

But the melody wouldn't leave his mind. As he raced his bike through the crowded streets, narrowly avoiding parked cars and pedestrians alike, all he heard echoing in his ears was the same melody, over and over and over again. Playing in a constant loop. Driving him to distraction, which was a dangerous thing to do when fighting through rush hour traffic on the congested city streets.

So he had forced himself to focus, ignoring the tune crying out for his attention.

After he was done with his deliveries for the day, he had pulled out his cell phone, opened up his twitter, and posted his location, allowing his followers to find him if they wanted to come see him perform. He had found that it was easier to use social media to advertise his performances rather than tie himself down with a specific venue at a specific time. It gave him a sense of freedom to showcase his music as little or as much as he wanted. And today, he needed to be surrounded by his own music, if only to drown out the invasive melody still circling around his mind.

He played for a few hours, his guitar case open on the sidewalk in front of him so passers-by could throw some euros in if they liked his sound. But that wasn't the reason he played. He played for the music itself. Sure, the money he earned was appreciated, but he would have played even without it. To him, music was a part of him, as natural and necessary as breathing. He usually didn't even have to concentrate on his fingers pressing against the strings of his guitar. But today, he had to really focus to keep his hands from playing the song that was aching to be let out. Once again, he ignored its desperate plea for release. It was still too raw and too personal for public exposure yet. He wouldn't play that song until he found _her_ again.

Feeling his phone vibrate against his leg from inside his front pocket, he took a break and checked the time. With a smile, he packed up his guitar, slung it over his back, and took off on his bike towards the waterfront where his mother's houseboat, the Liberty, had been moored. He wasn't one to live his life by keeping to a schedule, but there was one exception: meeting up with his friends to play a video game he had recently been involved in.

As he pedaled down the streets on his way home, he thought about how such a simple thing as a video game could completely change his day to day life. He usually wasn't one to spend time in front of a screen. His music took up too much of his time for that. But after hearing his friend and co-collaborator, Nino, talking about how awesome the soundtrack of the game was a few months ago, he had been intrigued. He had gone to Nino's house for a jam session one day and he had convinced Luka to give it a shot.

That was all it had taken to get him hooked. The music alone would have captivated him, something he hadn't really considered possible before. Apparently, video game music had come a long way since he had last picked up a controller when he was a little kid. But the game mechanics, the online play, the community of it was what drew him in for good.

Immediately after leaving Nino's house that afternoon, Luka had gone to the store and picked up a copy of Ultimate Mecha Strike 4 for himself. It wasn't long before he was spending as much time playing with a controller as he did with his guitar.

Once his DJ friend had realized how into UMS4 Luka had become, he invited him to participate in a few missions with his clan. Apparently, they were a big deal in the gamer world, so Luka thought "why not?" and joined them. Playing with a team brought a whole new feel to the game. He normally had a really hard time communicating with other people; word play had never been his strong suit. But having a degree of separation between him and the person he was talking to in the form of his headset seemed to make it easier for his thoughts to get across. And Nino's clanmates were nothing short of amazing.

Luka knew that Nino played with some friends of his from high school, but he never told Luka who they were. Which was ok with him. He didn't need to know anything about the people on the other side of the screen any more than they needed to know anything about him. The anonymity actually made him more comfortable being himself.

Now, months after becoming an official member of "Miraculous Kwami", Luka considered his clanmates to truly be his friends.

Finally arriving back at the houseboat he called home, he carried his bike down the gangway and hung it from the hooks in the ceiling of the cabin. With his mom backpacking around Europe searching for "the sounds of inspiration", he and his sister had taken the opportunity to clear out some of the disorder she had been so fond of. He knew that as soon as she returned, chaos would take over the Liberty once again, but for now, the Couffaine siblings would enjoy a bit of serenity in their home.

"What's up?" he heard a soft voice ask as he came down the stairs leading below deck. He looked over to the blue wrap around couch against the wall and saw his purple-haired sister sitting there, playing on her phone. Juluka had really come out of her shell over the past few years, her budding modeling career probably being the main reason for that. Or possibly her relationship with Rose, her extremely bubbly and energetic girlfriend. Now those two were the epitome of "opposites attract", but Luka could understand their relationship. What one lacked, the other one made up for. They created a perfect harmony with each other, though sometimes when they got together, they were sweeter than those candy hearts sold during Valentine's day and left him feeling a bit nauseous. On those occasions, he simply grabbed his guitar and found a park to play in, giving them some privacy to have some alone time. One drawback of living on a boat was thin walls.

"Work was pretty busy," he answered as he set his guitar on the stand against the wall next to the couch. "I think I rode at least 50 kilometers this morning." He sighed as he sat down on the couch next to his sister.

"Ouch," she winced in sympathy, still tapping on her phone, "you'll be feeling that in the morning. Anything else happen today?" She tucked her purple tipped black hair behind her ear and put her phone down next the her, finally giving her brother her full attention.

"Actually, yeah," he responded, chuckling to himself. "I got run over by a muse while I was on my break this morning."

"A what now?" Sometimes her brother could be so weird, she thought.

"This girl crashed into me while she was running somewhere and ever since, I've had this song stuck in my head. It won't go away and it's driving me a little crazy." He reached into his jacket pocket to show his sister the source of his inspiration, when her phone started ringing.

"Wow, sounds like you've got some songwriting to do," she murmured as she grabbed her phone and started walking away. "I've got to go. I'm meeting Rose at a little bistro she wanted to try together and I'm already running late. We'll talk when I get back."

Watching his sister's willowy form walk up the stairs, he tucked the folded paper securely back into his pocket before withdrawing his hand from inside his jacket and heading further into the cabin to where his bunk was located.

After checking his phone to confirm the time, he took off his riding jacket and set it next to him on his bunk. _Game time_, he thought to himself, grabbing his teal tinted controller from the charging dock next to his bed. Donning a set of blue headphones and he was ready.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Luka was the first to arrive at his clan's hideout tonight, it would seem. He walked around for a bit while he waited for the others to load in. After only a few minutes, he saw a notification pop up in the lower corner of his screen. **LADYBUG is online.** He smiled. Out of all the members of his clan, he enjoyed playing with Ladybug the most. There was just something about her voice that resonated in his ears when he talked to her. The distortion through the headphones wasn't enough to mask how clear her voice was, like the ringing of a bell.

He turned his avatar around so he could see hers when she arrived at their base. When he saw her avatar pop on screen in front of him, he pressed the button on his controller to perform an elaborate bow. "Good evening, Lady luck," he playfully greeted her.

"Hi there, Viperion. Long time no see," she responded with a wave.

"What's the plan for tonight? Who else is going to be on, do you know?" A small part of him wanted it to be just the two of them. It wasn't often that they got to play as a pair since they were usually joined by the other members, but he enjoyed spending time with the red and black lady.

She walked over to where his avatar was standing. "I just got off the phone with Rena, so she should be joining us soon. I haven't spoken with Carapace or Chat today, but I haven't heard of any reason why they shouldn't be on. Did any of the others say anything to you about when they would be on after I logged off the other night?"

"Monkey said something about preparing for a competition, so he might not be able to get on, but Pegasus said he'd be here a little later. And as far as I know, Ryuko is planning on being here."

"That's good. We have enough people to try for that bow you've been wanting. It's a limited time event, so we need to grab it for you while we have the chance. I know I'm going to be busy for the next couple of weeks."

"Oh?" He was interested in what could possibly pull her away from her favorite game. Ladybug was almost always online, even if she was just lurking around their hideout, chatting with the other members of their clan.

"Yeah," she answered. "I've got a really important project coming up and I need to focus on that. I already royally screwed up today, and I can't afford to make any more mistakes." Just by the tone of her voice, Luka could tell that she was upset about her blunder.

"Do you want to talk about it? Sometimes it helps to share the burden with someone else."

Her soft giggle echoed in his ears. "Thanks, Viperion. I'm good. I already ranted to Rena about it, so I'm fine now. Just a little stressed out." She sighed. "This project is the biggest thing I've ever done and it could make or break my entire career."

"Okay, just remember that if you ever need to vent or anything, I'm here for you."

"Thanks."

Just then, other notifications began popping up on his screen.

**CHAT NOIR is online.**

**CARAPACE is online.**

**RENA ROUGE is online.**

"Looks like the gang is starting to arrive," Ladybug commented. "Let's get to work."

"Ready whenever you are," he responded with a smirk. "Let's get that loot."

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Setting his controller back on the charging dock, Luka stood up and stretched his arms over his head, arching his back to work out the kinks that had developed after sitting in the same position for such a long period of time. Glancing at his cell phone to see how long he'd been at it, he was shocked to discover it was almost midnight! He had to get to sleep ASAP. He had to head to the studio in the morning for a recording session with Jagged Stone.

After his regular guitarist, Vivica, had taken some time off for maternity leave, the rock legend had been desperate to find someone to fill in. When he had shown up at the Liberty and discovered that his former guitarist and Luka's mom, Anarka, was no longer in the city and therefore no longer available to help, Jagged had heard Luka playing and immediately asked him to fill in whenever he had the time.

At first, Luka had been shocked that his idol wanted to work with him. But over time, the novelty had worn off as he realized that Jagged had a tendency to be completely immature at times and extremely temperamental. Luckily, it took quite a bit to ruffle Luka's feathers and he usually ignored the megastar when he was having a meltdown.

Mentally preparing himself for the trials he was sure to endure at tomorrow's recording session, Luka took a deep breath, holding it for a moment with his eyes closed before slowly exhaling. He stripped off his clothes and slipped between his sheets clad only in his boxers.

Turning his bedside light off, he closed his eyes and felt himself drift off to sleep, the melody that had been plaguing him all day now acting as a lullaby and lulling him to sleep.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*Hello again lovelies. Thank you again for reading this story of mine. It means the world to me that you chose this fic to waste your time one lol. This chapter was difficult for me to write because Luka just did not want to cooperate with me, so I think he needs to be punished XD . I'm just kidding. He's too sweet for me to do anything truly awful to him... yet. _

_I would truly appreciate it if you could let me know what you think about this story. Any and all CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome. That's the only way to grow and I want to provide you readers with a story worth reading._

_Until next time, XOXO*_


	4. Chapter 4 - Chocolate

"All right, mate?" Luka looks up from his guitar and sees Jagged Stone, rock star extraordinaire, poking his head into the recording studio. "Something's got your sound all mixed up. So tell me," he cajoles as he strides into the room, brimming with confidence and larger than life, "what's got your knickers in a twist, eh?"

Luka stills his fingers and gives his attention the other man now sitting on a stool in front of him. He could literally feel Jagged staring at him, a look of unabashed anticipation on his face. Running his fingers through his teal tipped black hair, he closed his eyes and sighed.

He'd tried not dwell on how utterly frustrated he was. It's been almost a week since his fateful encounter with his new inspiration, but he's no closer to finding her. All he has is the mysterious melody playing on an infinite loop in his head and the scrap of paper that he now carries with him everywhere he goes, tucked securely in his jacket pocket. He isn't sure where to even begin to start looking for the girl. After some serious thought, he contemplated asking Juleka if she would know how to track down a certain fashion designer because if the drawing he had in his possession was any indication, she was obviously very skilled and therefore had to be well known in the fashion industry.

But unfortunately for the guitarist, by the time he had worked up the courage to ask his sister to do some investigating on his behalf, she had been booked for a photoshoot overseas and had left the country. Sometimes he just had the worst luck. Plus, between doing deliveries in the morning and getting some studio time with Jagged to prepare for his next album, he honestly really didn't have the time to be hunting down a single girl out of the two million residents of Paris. The odds were _not_ in his favor.

In the end, he had resigned himself to the fact that he'd have to wait until Juleka came back and then ask her for help. Until then, the only thing he could do was tweak her melody and keep her design safe. He's sure their paths will cross again. They had to.

"Nothing has my 'knickers in a twist' as you so delicately put it. I've just got some stuff on my mind, is all." His fingers pluck at the strings of his guitar restlessly, the notes contradicting him wordlessly.

"Sorry to tell ya this, bloke, but that guitar of yours is callin' you a liar. Level with me, man, anything I can do to help a rockin' musician like yourself out, just let me know. We've gotta get that sound of yours back in harmony."

"Yeah," Luka responded listlessly, "I know, Jagged. Thanks."

Luckily, they were interrupted by a knock on the window separating the recording studio from the control booth, signaling that the producer was ready for them to begin their session. The last think Luka wanted was to be interrogated by the flamboyant rocker, regardless of how well meaning he was.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

After their recording session was over, Luka decided to grab something to eat before heading back home to log in and get some grinding done in-game. However, he seemed to have acquired an extremely obnoxious and over-eager shadow.

"I'm telling ya, mate, that's some of the best playing I've heard since I worked with your mum. You could become a superstar if you set your mind to it." Being ambitious and hungry for attention, someone like Jagged Stone just couldn't understand that there were some people who preferred to linger in the shadows.

"I'm happy just playing my music, to be honest. I don't have any grand ambitions of stardom." A small smile graced Luka's lips. "I don't want a record label to try to dictate what I play or how I sound. I don't mind playing your music because it speaks to my soul, but I want my freedom when it comes to my own music"

Jagged threw his head back and laughed, holding his stomach in mirth. "I feel ya, mate. There's times I wanna kick some of these record labels prats out on their arses. They have no respect for the artistic process. I can't just snap my fingers and deliver a chart- topping song. It takes talent and dedication and, most importantly, they gotta feel it in their soul!

"Oh! That reminds me! Penny!" he called over his shoulder at his ever present and long suffering personal assistant, "I want you to send some chocolates or flowers or whatever it is that girls these days like to Marinette. That girl is fabulous and dedicated to her craft and I want her to know how much I appreciate her help." She nodded, tucking a stray piece of her sleek burgundy hair behind her ear and took out her tablet, tapping a reminder in her notes.

That caught Luka's undivided attention. The Jagged Stone he knew wasn't the kind of guy who just gave other people presents. If anything, he _expected_ other people to do things for him, without a seconds hesitation or complaint. For him to go out of his – or rather, his assistant's – way to offer a gesture of appreciation was, quite frankly, unheard of!

"Who's this Marinette girl?" he asks. "What did she do for you that was so important that you'd want to send her a gift?"

Jagged reeled back in shock. "Oh, what hasn't she done for me? Whenever everything goes pear shaped and I'm in a pinch, I know I can count on her to help me out. I mean, one time she made the wicked rock n roll shades for me. Another time, she basically saved my career when she redid my album cover after the bloke who did the first design wouldn't accept any of my input and came up with this absolutely bonkers cover art. And now this time, she's really saving my skin. I had to ask a massive favor of her and in such a short amount of time too." He chuckled to himself, shaking his head. "I just want her to know that I appreciate her style and all that fabulous girl does to help me when I'm in a bind."

Honestly, Luka was a bit surprised. Jagged usually wasn't one to sing another's praises, so this "Marinette" girl must really be something special.

Luka looked at his phone to check the time. "Well, Jagged, I've got to run. I've got somewhere I need to be."

"Cheers, mate. I'll catch you next time." Jagged saluted the younger guitarist. "Do what you need to in order to fix your sound. It's doesn't sound right when it's all jumbled up like that."

Luka waved goodbye and left the record label, heading home to his boat.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

When got back to home, the quiet slapping of waves against the hull of the boat was the only sound he heard as he strode across the deck, taking a moment to appreciate the beautiful sunset reflecting over the Seine. It was kind of lonely being the only one on board. He couldn't wait until his sister got back in a few days. Until then, he'd just have to fill the silence in other ways. Shaking his head at his own melancholy, he ducked into the cabin and made his way to his bunk.

Deciding that he needed to find his center again after such a chaotic week, he toed off his sneakers, settled onto his bunk, crossed his legs and gently rested his wrists on his knees to meditate. Maybe that was why he had been so off lately; he just needed to clear his mind and get rid of the negative energies swirling inside his mind. Taking a deep breath in, he closed his eyes and relaxed into his meditation.

Thirty minutes later, he opened his eyes feeling refreshed and less off balance.

Glancing at his phone again, he figured he had time to get some gaming in before heading to bed. With any luck, Ladybug would be online too. He liked playing with the rest of his clanmates, don't get him wrong, but Ladybug was just such a badass. Her skill was unparalleled and when they were in the midst of an intense battle, she took command of the situation and always led their team to victory. She fought with grace and made everything she did look effortless. If he were honest with himself, he just enjoyed being in her company. She had such a sweet voice that even when she was barking out orders on the battlefield, she still sounded as clear as a bell.

After logging on, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that luck, for once, was on his side: she was online. That was a relief, especially considering she'd been MIA all week due to being busing working on whatever project she had going. Deep down, he was a little jealous that "real life" was dragging her away from the UMS4, and therefore away from him. But he did have to admit that it was a bit hypocritical of him to be jealous of her being busy when he was bordering on obsession with finding someone who, if he didn't currently have her design tucked into the pocket of his jacket, he would have thought that the whole encounter had been an extremely vivid figment of his overactive imagination.

Walking up to her avatar, his own waved in greeting. "Hey, Ladybug. Just you and I tonight, huh?"

Her avatar waved in response. "Hi, Viperion. Looks like it. Want to do some grinding and work on equipment upgrades since we don't have enough people on our team right now to do any major missions?"

He smiled and his avatar gave a thumbs up gesture. "Sounds good. Let's go"

As they traversed through their online world, she struck up conversation to fill the silence. "So what have you been up to this week? Anything fun and exciting?"

He chuckled softly. "Not exactly. Just working and practicing. How about you? How's your project coming along?"

Her groan echoed in his ears, making him laugh under his breath. "Oh god, I've been working non stop since I last played with you. Five days, working 'round the clock without even leaving my house. I'm pretty sure my parents were about to send a search party up to my room to check and see if I was still breathing," she laughed.

"Oh? You still live with your parents?"

"Yeah," she admitted. "We have a very good relationship, so it works out well for us. I help them out with their shop from time to time when I have time and they give me food."

Luka laughed, shaking his head. Sometimes she really was too cute. "That's nice. I live with my mom and sister, but they're out of the country right now, so it's just me. I never thought I'd think this, but with them gone, it's too quiet here and the music in my head is a bit overwhelming in the silence."

There was a brief pause before she responded, "the music in your head?" He could hear the confusion in her voice.

"Yeah, I've had this song stuck in my head for almost a week now and I can't get it out of my head until I find what I'm looking for."

"Uhh- Okaay, I'm not sure what you mean, but I wish you the best of luck finding what you're looking for." He heard her yawn audibly through his headphones. "And on that note, I've got to go. I have to get up early to help my parents with their shop since I have some time before the next phase of my project."

A little disappointed that he wouldn't get to spend more time with Ladybug, but he understood that she had prior commitments. "All right. Will you be on tomorrow at all? I had fun just messing around with you tonight."

"I should be able to get on for a few hours tomorrow night. I had fun too," she admitted. "Well, goodnight, Viperion."

Smiling softly, he replied, "Sweet dreams, Ladybug." And logged off himself.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Turning her console off, Marinette plugged her controller into the charge cable and turned off her desk light. Stretching her arms over her head as she walked over to the ladder leading to the loft where her bed was located, she giggled as when she realized that she had learned more about Viperion in that one conversation than she had in the months she had been playing with him since he'd joined "Miraculous Kwami". She enjoyed playing with him. He was just so calm and collected, completely relaxed even in the most stressful situations. There were many occasions where his level head had really helped keep her calm enough to figure out how to defeat an especially tricky boss. Plus, it didn't hurt in the slightest that his voice was really hot. Idly, while she changed into her pajamas, she wondered if his face matched his voice.

Shaking her head, she thrust that thought right out of her mind. Online was online and reality was reality. It wouldn't do to confuse the two. For all she knew, he was a 45 year old bald man with a pot belly and a handlebar moustache. Shuddering at the thought, she shook her head again and made the decision to just leave things as they were. There are just some things that are better of not knowing.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*Hello again. Thanks for taking the time to read this rambling mess lol. I had a LOT of fun writing Jagged. He's just so much fun and flamboyant and have a feeling our poor sweet Luka is gonna get tangled up in some of his shenanigans before all this is over. _

_Do me a favor though, let me know what you think. Even if it's just one word. Reviews or favorites help me keep going, so if you like what you read and want to see more from our adorable messes, then let me know._

_Until next time XOXO_


	5. Chapter 5 - Hands

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 5 - Hands**

Nose scrunching up to combat the savory scent of freshly baked bread tickling her nostrils, Marinette groaned and burrowed deeper under her blanket, blocking out the bright rays of sunlight streaming through the skylight above her bed. Desperately clinging to her slumber, she rolled over in an attempt to find a more comfortable position- only to feel gravity take hold as she rolled right off the side of her bed.

Hitting the floor with a muffled THUMP, she struggled to free herself from her blanket burrito. With a gasp as she finally freed herself from her downy prison, she rubbed her head to soothe the ache where it had connected with the floor. It was days like this that she was glad that there were still guard rails around her loft to prevent her from rolling right over the edge and plummeting down to the main area below. Now THAT would be an awful way to greet the day.

Her eyes widened when she glanced up at the skylight and saw how late in the day it was. She was supposed to be helping her parents out this morning down at the bakery, not sleeping the day away like a tranquilized sloth! Clamoring to her feet, she grabbed her comforter and threw it back on her bed, haphazardly shaking it out to make it look at least a little presentable. She rushed down her ladder, missing a rung in the middle and fell the rest of the way down into the main living area of her room. She made a bee-line to her closet and took out the first two articles of clothing she laid her hands on before stumbling down her trap door and ricocheting off the wall, finally making her way into the bathroom to change her clothes and brush her teeth.

With a final slide down the bottom half of the stairs, she landed in the bakery on her butt, causing her parents to look over at her and chuckle.

"Maman, Papa! Why didn't you wake me up?! Didn't you say that you had a big order to complete for a bridal shower or something?"

Sabine Cheng dusted the stray flour off her apron and strode over to her clumsy daughter. She gently grabbed her hand and helped up back to her feet. "Sweetie, you've been working so hard lately; you deserve a break. Your father and I can handle it ourselves, so you just worry about your own responsibilities." She reached up to stroke her hand over her daughter's disheveled hair.

"Besides," her father, Tom, interjected with his booming, cheerful voice, "didn't you say something about a fitting today?"

Walking over to the peg where her own apron hung, Marinette slipped it over her head and tied it behind her back. "Yeah, but that's not until later this afternoon. I can help you guys out until then." She smiled as she grabbed a tray of warm, flaky croissants and strode around the workstation to the front where the display case was located. Luckily, it seemed that the morning rush had ended and there was a lull in customers. She took this opportunity to replace anything that was running low in the display while her parents stayed in the kitchen and worked on the bridal shower order.

Times like these - where she could spend a lazy Thursday morning with her parents in the bakery - were some of her favorite. Over the years, she had come to truly appreciate how lucky she was to have such a loving and supportive family. Especially considering that she knew someone very well who didn't have that kind of relationship with his own father.

It came as no surprise that with how tight knit her friendship with Alya, Nino, and Adrien was, there had been many times over the years that Marinette had dragged Adrien home with her after a study session so he could have dinner with her family instead of sitting down at an empty table to eat in solitude. She couldn't get away with it very often considering how strictly his father monitored his son from a distance, but when she could, she made sure that the lonely boy who had captivated her young, naïve heart wouldn't be alone to wallow in his own sadness.

And her parents had been absolutely wonderful and opened their home to Adrien and always made sure that he knew he was welcome at their table whenever he wanted to join them. For the longest time, they had been supportive of their daughter's infatuation with the handsome, blond boy and had secretly hoped that he would eventually become a true member of their family.

When Marinette had eventually put her schoolgirl crush on him behind her, her parents had encouraged her to keep bringing Adrien home with her to join them for dinner from time to time. They truly cared about him and wanted to take care of him, as much as they could.

So it wasn't a surprise to Marinette that when she heard the bell above the bakery's door jingle, she saw her blond friend stride through the door.

"Good morning, Marinette. Helping your parents out today?" Adrien walked over and leaned his forearms on the countertop.

"Yup. They're getting ready for a bridal shower delivery, so I'm manning the counter for them since I'm done with the sample for Jagged's new look and I've got some free time until I have to bring it over for his fitting." She wiped down the counter and watched a grin creep over his lips.

"So, it's a simple matter of give and 'bake' then?" He chuckled at his own pun.

Marinette rolled her eyes and shook her head at her ridiculous friend. "Wow, Adrien. That was just painful. Just… don't."

"What 'dough' you mean, Mari?" He leaned even closer, fluttering his eyelashes as he grinned playfully and he watched his friend try to suppress her laughter.

"God, you're awful. How can you stand to be so corny? If your fangirls knew how horrible your puns were, they'd turn in their fanclub membership cards." she giggled and covered her face so she wouldn't have to watch him continue to make exaggerated faces at her.

With one final chuckle, he backed away and perused the display case, inspecting the wares for sale. "I'm no worried about that happening any time soon. I just stopped in to grab something to eat before I went to class. Can I get a couple of croissants for the road?"

She grabbed her tongs and placed a few croissants in a bag for him. "Here you go. It's on the house. You know your money is no good here."

Taking the bag from her, he smirked. "How do you expect your parents to make any 'dough' that way?"

Slapping her hand over her face, she just groaned. Sometimes she wished he hadn't gotten so comfortable around her. His puns sometimes were really bad.

"By the way, when do you have to be over at Roth Records for the fitting?"

Marinette peeked through her fingers at Adrien. Apparently, he was done being silly. "Actually, in about 45 minutes. You just caught me as I was about to get cleaned up and head over to the studio."

He glanced at the watch on his wrist. "I have a little bit of time before I have to get to class. Would you like a ride so you don't have to get a taxi or take the metro with your precious cargo?"

She hesitated for a minute, then relented. It would be much more convenient to accept his offer. After all, she felt like he owed her for having to endure his terrible jokes. "Sure. That'd actually be a big help. Give me a few minutes to get ready and we can head out."

After she hung up her apron and started up the stairs to her room, Adrien leaned over the counter to call after her, "Take all the time you… 'knead'." He laughed when he heard her groan echo down the stairs.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

In stark contrast to Marinette's busy morning, Luka was enjoying a leisurely day off. Sitting on the couch in the main cabin of his houseboat, he lazily plucked the strings of his guitar, not really playing any song in particular, just enjoying the feeling of the strings beneath his fingertips. Eventually, though, the tune that had been burrowing through his brain couldn't be ignored any longer.

He carefully plucked the strings, coaxing the melody out into the open where he could flesh it out and tweak it until it really started to resonate with his soul. He felt like he was on the verge of some sort of breakthrough when he was jarred back to reality by the shrill ring of his cell phone.

Carefully setting his guitar next to him, he looked at the display: Penny Rollings. He briefly wondered what Jagged Stone's agent could possibly want with him so soon, then accepted the call.

"Hey, Miss Rollings, what can I do for you?"

He heard her sigh on the other end. "Luka, I've already asked you to call me 'Penny'," she admonished. "The reason I'm calling is because we need you in the studio again. Apparently, when Mr. Roth listened to the recording we did yesterday, he wasn't satisfied with the final cut and wants you and Jagged to go over it again. Do you have any time this afternoon?"

Mentally saying goodbye to his 'day off', Luka replied, "Sure. What time should I come by?"

He heard rhythmic tapping, letting him know that she was tapping on her tablet, probably checking her artist's schedule. "Can you make it around three o'clock? Jagged has a fitting before then, but it shouldn't take too long."

He agreed to the meeting and ended the call. Tucking his phone into the back pocket of his ripped, black jeans, he grabbed his signature leather riding jacket and threw it on over his slashed white Jagged Stone band tee. Carelessly shoving his feet into scuffed combat boots, he slung his guitar over his shoulder and headed out. He had some time to kill and decided that busking in the park would be a bit more productive that continuing to obsess over his mystery song.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

"Marinette, my awesome girl, you've outdone yourself this time!" Refusing to stand still as he admired himself in the mirror, Jagged stone yelped once again as Marinette _accidentally_ poked him with yet another pin as she tried to adjust the fit of the toxic purple lapels of the rock god's jacket. From the moment he had donned her latest creation, he hadn't stopped complimenting Marinette's handiwork. She had managed to properly fit the sample she had brought of the pants she had made for Jagged without too much bloodshed, but she supposed that was only due to the close proximity of sharp objects to the man's family jewels.

Apparently, once he was no longer in danger of being stabbed in his delicates, the amped up rock star decided that standing still for a proper fitting wasn't necessary. Hoping to distract him, Marinette asked him how the progress on his next album was coming. "I'm impressed that you're already working on your next album before the one you just finished is even released."

Her subtle distraction worked. He gazed fondly at the top of her head as she made a minute adjustment to the hem of his jacket. "Music's in my blood and rock 'n roll is in my soul. You know how it is to be a slave to your craft. I can tell just by lookin' at the awesome art you create that you have that same passion inside your soul."

She stilled her hands for a minute as she thought about what he had said. "You know, you're very right."

With a final pin placement, Marinette announced that she was done with the fitting and he could take of the sample clothing she had brought as long as he was careful not to knock off any of the pins.

Once he was clad once again in his signature sequined blazer, he flopped down on a couch pushed against one of the fitting room walls. Delicately packing her creation in it's designated garment bag, she jumped when she heard a knock on the door.

Jagged Stone's agent poked her head into the room and announced, "Jagged, if you're done here, you're needed in studio four."

Groaning, he flopped his shaggy head against the back of the couch. "Can't I get a break, Penny? You've got me runnin' non-stop since I woke up. You're stifling my creative juices," he complained.

Not wanting to witness the inevitable argument between the temperamental artist and his fed up agent, Marinette quietly gathered her things and snuck out of the room, not bothering to interrupt the other two to say her goodbyes.

She made her way through the labyrinth of hallways toward the elevator so she could head back home. But she stopped in her tracks when she heard… something.

It was the most beautiful song she'd ever heard. The simple guitar playing tugged at her heartstrings in a way nothing had before and she was captivated. She'd never heard anything like it. This song spoke to her and demanded that she listen.

Following the sound, she made her way down the hall until she found the source of the music: a young man sitting in an empty recording studio.

She wiped away the sudden tears that gathered in her eyes and gazed into the room at the musician. His head was bent over his guitar, his teal tipped black hair obscuring her view of his face. His lips wore a soft smile and he touched her heart with his song. She watched as his hands danced over the strings of his guitar, effortlessly bringing to life his hypnotic tune.

She continued to stare in wonder at his hands. She could scarcely believe that those black tipped digits could evoke such emotions within her with just a guitar. The longer she looked at them, taking in every detail, from the ring he wore on his left index finger to the rugged leather cuff he wore on his right wrist, the more she suspected that she'd seen those hands before.

Shaking her head to clear her mind, she reached up and slowly wrapped her fingers around the door handle.

In the distance, she could suddenly hear the sounds of Jagged Stone and Penny bickering as they approached.

She quickly backed away and took off toward the elevator, once again not wanting to get caught in the awkward situation of listening to them fight.

Not realizing that the slight sound she had made when she released the doorknob was enough to catch the attention of the guitarist she had been watching. He jerked his head up just in time to see midnight blue hair streak in front of the window as she ran off. Shrugging it off, he returned his attention to his instrument and continued to play his secret song.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*Oooooooh, so close! Almost had contact there. But almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. But, they're getting warmer. Next chapter will have some more Ladybug and Viperion interaction, with some subtle shameless flirting thrown in. _

_Thanks again for reading my story and until next time, XOXO my lovelies*_


	6. Chapter 6 - Cherry

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 6 - Cherry**

"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" Marinette screamed into her headset as she tapped the buttons on her controller as fast as her fingers would let her.

"Dang, girl. Leave some for the rest of us." Alya's chuckle filtered though her headphones over the sound of gunfire. Her orange mecha that had been built for speed and precision performed a deadly dance as she picked off the few stragglers that Ladybug's mecha had left behind. "You're out for blood tonight, aren't ya? Tough week?"

'Tough' didn't begin to cover how frenzied the last week had been for Marinette. After hemming and embroidering and sewing THOUSANDS OF FREAKING SEQUINS, Jagged Stone's new ensemble was finally finished. Why she had agreed to undertake such a herculean task at the last minute, she had no idea. Well, that's not entirely true. She knew exactly why she accepted the job: she loved Jagged Stone and she loved a challenge.

Still, the fact that she was stressed out and sleep deprived remained. However, she was still too jittery from the numerous cups of coffee she'd sucked down over the past few days to go to sleep yet, so she figured she'd meet up with her clanmates and play for a little while until she finally came down from her caffeine high.

"Rena, I haven't slept in 36 hours, I've stabbed myself a dozens of times sewing on all those stupid sequins that I thought would be _such a good idea_ to add to his design, and I've had enough coffee over the past week that Papa could probably use my blood to make some of his famous tiramisu, so even though I'm freaking exhausted, there's no way I can fall asleep just yet. I need something to relax me, so here I am.."

"Seriously, dude," Nino added, "When you told us what you were doing, I thought you'd finally fallen off the deep end. I mean, you've got to be crazy to try to design and sew a photoshoot ready outfit for one of the biggest rock and roll stars in the world in just a week!" His avatar, a bright green design with black goggles covering the cockpit, threw up a translucent energy shield over his clanmates that glowed with an ethereal green light, easily blocking the incoming attack of an enemy captain.

"Hey!" Marinette yelled at her friend as she rushed toward the mini-boss, swords flashing as her cherry red mecha closed the distance and she engaged with the enemy. "You make it sound like you didn't think I could do it."

"It's not that, my lady," soothed Adrien, aka Chat Noir. "We all had faith that you'd get the job done _purr_fectly." His onyx mecha landed next to Ladybug, his staff whirling, performing a perfectly choreographed combo attack with his partner in battle. "_Fur_ real, we were just concerned that _purr_haps you had _kitten_ off more than you could chew and ended up burning yourself out."

She closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself. She could literally hear how smug Chat Noir was through her headphones. "For the sake of what little sanity I have left after this week, please don't start with the cat puns, Chat."

"Why, I'm _feline_ a little offended here, bugaboo," he teased. "I'm just saying that there's no one else who _clawed_ pull what you did off."

"That last one was a bit of a stretch, kitty." She should just ignore him, she knew that. You'd think she would have learned by now that when she responded to his bad jokes and ridiculous puns, he layed it on even thicker, just to annoy her. "Seriously though, I didn't have much of a choice! You should have seen what the stylist wanted Jagged to wear. It was just," she shuddered just thinking about it, "terrible."

Rena asked, "How bad? Come on, girl, gimme some details!"

"Ugh, it makes me sick just thinking about it. Imagine Jagged Stone, wearing a powder blue, see-through lace romper.." Her three friends howled with laughter at the mental image she conjured, so she continued to describe the nightmare she had seen in full detail. "Just picture it: THE Jagged Stone, clad in skintight lace booty shorts, white fishnet stockings, and silver glitter loafers. They wanted to stuff him into a silver speedo underneath that ridiculous romper. That's all! Nothing but a silver speedo and translucent baby blue lace!" she snorted with laughter as she remembered how utterly uncomfortable the poor singer had been when he showed her what the record label wanted him to wear for his promotional photo shoot. "Oh my god, it was awful! I wish I could unsee that sight, but it's now burned into my memory to haunt me until the day I die. I couldn't very well say no to his pleading after I saw that abomination."

"Ladybug," Chat Noir tried to calm down enough to talk, but he was obviously having a hard time since he had let his guard down and had been killed in the battle. He used his respawn time to finally compose himself enough to continue. "As a life long Jagged Stone fan, you have my eternal gratitude for sparing the public from that visual crime against humanity." He dissolved into another fit of giggles, causing a chain reaction amongst their friends once again and distracting them from the battle currently underway.

"I know." Marinette took a deep breath. "And here I thought that they couldn't possibly come up with a worse marketing strategy after that whole "perfume ad album cover" debacle. Yeah, I was wrong. This was much, MUCH worse," she scoffed.

They all laughed hysterically for a few more minutes before they were able to calm themselves enough to carry on their conversation.

"By the way, milady, are you going to be participating in Fashion Week next month?" Chat asked.

"Yes," she replied. "I've finally garnered enough of a reputation as a legitimate designer for my collection to be allowed to participate in the newcomer designer showcase on the last day. I've got my collection finalized, so all I need to do is sit down at my machine and make the pieces." Her fingers flew over the buttons of her controller, sowing a path of destruction in her avatar's wake onscreen as a new wave of enemies arrived to back up their leader. "Now that I'm done with the Jagged Stone's request, I've got the time to work on my showcase designs." With a final flourish, she and Chat Noir defeated the enemy captain, leaving Rena Rouge and Carapace to deal with the reinforcements.

The gathered the mission rewards and traveled back to their base.

"Hey, Ladybug," Rena began, "have you selected the models you'd like to walk in your show? I'm sure Kitty Noir over here would be more than happy to help you out if you need."

While Alya understood that Adrien and Marinette would probably only be "just good friends", once a shipper, always a shipper. Over the years, she still created opportunities for her two friends to be alone together in the hopes that something would spark between them and her OTP ship could set sail. Was it wrong to ship your friends? She didn't think so. Nino disapproved of her antics at times, but she just couldn't help it. She wanted her friends to be happy and in her mind, they were made for each other.

Marinette had tried convincing her friend that she was more than happy with the relationship she had with the handsome, blond model. She was more at ease with him now and he could be himself around her, even if that did include his utterly atrocious sense of humor. Seriously, the guy's obsession with puns was borderline unhealthy.

"I'd love to wear your designs again, My Lady," he purred.

"Won't you be busy walking in your father's show?"

"The Agreste show is on the first day. I'll have plenty of free time after that. All you'll have to do is get me some of your dad's famous macaroons as payment."

She was ecstatic. Having a famous model like Adrien Agreste would bring people flocking to her show, even if it was to see him, not her designs. But since he'd be the one wearing her clothes, it'd be like killing two birds with one stone. "You have a deal!" she squealed.

His chuckle echoed in her ears. "Honestly, I'm getting the better end of the deal. Don't underestimate the power your family's bakery has."

"Awesome," Alya cheered. "You've got your male model. Do you need a female model too or have you found one already?"

"Actually, I texted Juleka Couffaine and asked her if she'd be interested and she said that she'd do it," she said. "I haven't really spoken to her since high school since we kind of lost touch with each other, but I've seen some of the ads she's sone and I think she'd be a good fit for the theme of my collection. She's out of the country at the moment on a job, but she should be back sometime next week, so until then I can get started on what you'll be wearing, Kitty."

"Sounds good, Bugga-boo. I can't wait to see what you've come up with. Your designs are always so _paw_some. I can't wait to wear them for you on the catwalk."

She shook her head once more at his antics. "I'll give you the last one, since that's a legitimate pun." Alya and Nino's laughter rang in her ears as they laughed at their friends' banter.

"You know, we were wondering if you'd be online tonight, Ladybug, since you've been MIA all week." Alya said. "The others were asking about you since they hadn't heard from you, but I told them you'd be on when you were done with your work." There was a brief silence before she teased, "Viperion was especially worried about you. He said how you guys had done some grinding the other night wondered where you had disappeared to since you're usually on every night.."

The idea of Viperion worrying about her caused warmth to blossom in her chest. To be honest, she had missed the calming effect his presence had on her. "Speaking of which, where is he? Did he say he was going to be playing tonight?"

Nino told her that he had spoken to him earlier in the day and that he would probably be on much later, if at all because he would be working late on a project that he had to completely redo.

A little disappointed that she wouldn't get to play with her online friend, Marinette decided to call it a night and logged out, finally ready to get some much needed sleep.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*Sorry for the late posting on this. I'm trying to post every day to keep up with the Lukanette February event on tumblr, but I'm playing catch up at this point because I started late as it is. But never fear, I know where this fic is going (for the most part. There's a lot of stuff I have planned lol) so I'm definitely going to keep going. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I promise, next chapter will have some serious stuff go down and I'm excited to see how it goes._

_Thanks again for reading my story, and I'll see you next time, Lovelies XOXO*_


	7. Chapter 7 - Notes

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 7 - Notes**

Giving her dress form one final once-over, Marinette decided that everything was perfect. She had finished her outfit for Jagged Stone a few days ago, but that didn't stop her from agonizing whether or not it was _truly _done. Maybe there was something she had missed, or an aspect of the entire design that could have been improved upon. Quite frankly, she had been driving herself a little crazy looking for anything that wasn't absolutely perfect. Her obsessive behavior got to the point that on Saturday night, a full day after she had "finished" it, when her parents had come up to let her know that dinner was ready they had found her standing in the middle of her room, staring unblinking at her creation. In the same exact position she had been in hours before when her mother had brought her up a lunch tray that had been left untouched on her desk.

Deciding that enough was enough, they had demanded that she cover up the dress form and take a break. Worrying about it wouldn't do any good.

So, Marinette had grudgingly listened to her parents' advice and left it alone.

After an agonizing weekend of trying to ignore her hidden masterpiece, Monday morning finally rolled around – the day she was due to deliver her creation to the record company for Jagged Stone's photo shoot.

With utmost care, she removed the sheet covering up the outfit. She laid the custom embroidered garment bag she had prepared on her chaise lounge. Returning to the dress form, she gingerly removed the jacket, inspecting it one last time for any loose threads or stray pieces of lint. Black sequins sparkling in the light streaming from her windows, she carried it over to the garment bag and placed it on its hanger, smoothing the purple satin lapels to prevent any wrinkling from transit. She gave the black and purple military style cuffs a quick tug to ensure they hung properly in the bag.

Returning to the form one last time, she carefully removed the yellow snakeskin pants that hung there. Grabbing a second hanger, she clipped the pants delicately and slipped them inside the garment bag with the jacket.

A final inspection was made before she zipped the bag closed and hung it up on the clothing rack next to her sewing station.

It filled her with immense pride to see her initials emblazed on that garment bag. Knowing that the entire world would soon see the product of her passion was a heady feeling indeed. She rolled her shoulders back to ease the tension that had gathered there. It was too late now to turn back.

Grabbing the garment bag and her little pink purse, she climbed down her trap door and left her parent's bakery to make her delivery.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

"I did it, Alya." She said. "It's out of my hands now." Her hand gripped her cell phone as she strode through the lobby of Roth Records, her heels clicking a rapid tempo against marble floor.

"I'm so proud of you, girl. I can't believe it! My BFF is Jagged Stone's designer. I just can't wait until I can see your clothes on billboards all across the city."

She giggled loudly, the sound of it echoing through the lobby, catching the attention of a dark-haired man heading through the lobby on his way to the elevator bank, guitar case slung securely on his back. She was too focused on getting out of the building to notice him whip his head around, searching the surrounding area for the source of that clear peal of laughter. There was something about that voice that pricked his memory, but he couldn't place where he had heard it before. Shaking his shaggy hair out of his face, he scanned the lobby one last time with his aquamarine eyes before gripping the strap of his guitar case and continuing on his way.

"Honestly, I can hardly believe it myself. When I delivered it to Ms. Rolling, I was so nervous I almost passed out. I don't know why this is such a big deal for me. I wasn't this nervous when I designed his album cover all those years ago. And I certainly wasn't this stressed out over any of the other pieces I've made. What makes this so different?" she wondered as she made it to the entrance to the building.

"How about to celebrate your glorious success, I'll treat you to lunch." Marinette glanced at her watch before agreeing. "Good. I'll meet you at that cute little café we went to with the boys a few weeks ago. It's close to the record label, right?"

Marinette nodded before realizing that Alya couldn't see the gesture through the phone. "Yeah, it's right around the corner. I'll see you there in 20 minutes?" After hearing confirmation from her friend, she hung up her phone, stuffed it back in her purse and walked down the street, looking forward to meeting her friend for a relaxed meal after the crazy couple of weeks she'd just endured.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Luka marched down halls of Roth Records, his impassive expression belying his irritation. It felt like he'd spent more time in this god forsaken building in the past week than he had at his own home, and he was getting a little tired of it.

For some unknown reason, he had been roped into some sort of power play between rock legend Jagged Stone and the CEO or Roth Records, Bob Roth. After he and Jagged had finished recording what the two musicians considered an award winning song, the CEO said that it wasn't good enough and "would never sell". The blowout after that conversation was having lasting repercussions and now there was tension between the two entertainment giants.

Jagged Stone was refusing to back down and sacrifice his "creative process" to make a "soulless, vanilla, cookie cutter money maker". He knew what his demographic wanted and it pissed him off that even after all these years, Mr. Roth was still trying to undermine his talents to make a profit. The results spoke for themselves and Jagged would not sell out.

Roth on the other hand, was doing everything he could to mold the aged rocker into a package that he considered "hip and now" and was sabotaging any effort Jagged made to stay true to his carefully cultivated image.

Stuck in the middle of their cold war was Luka, who had done everything he could to stay out of their struggle for dominance. He kept his head down, did his recording sessions, and kept his opinions to himself. He just wanted to play the music he and Jagged created together.

He turned down the hall towards the recording studio he was due to meet his collaborator in when he suddenly found himself wearing someone else's coffee order. He looked from the brown splatter covering the front of his white "Jagged Stone: World Tour" t-shirt to the unfortunate intern holding an empty to go cup in his hand.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry!" the timid intern cried as he looked around in a panic trying to find something he could use to help clean the guitarist up.

With a shake of his head, he assured the panicking boy that he wasn't in trouble and that it wasn't a big deal before walking away. Honestly, he just wanted this day to be over already so he could go home and just jam out by himself for a bit.

Footsteps echoing in the now empty hallway, he finally arrived at his destination. But before he could enter the sanctuary of the empty studio, he heard his name called from his left.

He watched as Jagged Stone's agent approached him, her ever present tabled clutched tightly in her hands in a white knuckled grip.

"Good, I caught you before you got started, Luka."

Her eyes widened as she took in his muddied appearance. "What the hell happened to you?"

He delicately peeled the coffee-soaked shirt away from his stomach, the shirt making a squelching sound as it clung to his skin. "I had a run in with the coffee gopher. Literally."

She shook her head at his attempt at humor before tapping away at her tablet. "We've got some time before Jagged is done with his shoot. We're running a bit behind because Mr. Roth found out he went behind his back and commissioned his own design to replace the one that the marketing team wanted to use. Why don't you go to the dressing room and take that shirt off and I'll get you a clean one?"

Not seeing any reason to object – especially since the coffee was starting to chill against his skin and was getting a bit sticky – he agreed.

Once in the dressing room, Penny disappeared to find him a replacement shirt.

Carefully setting his guitar on the counter, he removed his black riding jacket and hung it on the back of a chair. Peeling the soaked shirt over his head, he glanced at the mirror and froze. His eyes widened and he spun around quickly, dropping his wet shirt with a plop.

There, hanging on a hook on the wall, was a cream colored garment bag. However, it wasn't the bag itself that had him rushing across the room. It was the three letters embroidered on the bag that had him so transfixed.

Reaching out his hand, he stoked his fingertip across the threads, calluses catching slightly. MDC. The same initials as those lazily scrawled on the paper still folded in his jacket pocket. The same initials that he had been obsessing over for the past few weeks. The initials of the designer of his dream outfit. The initials of his muse.

His heart pounded in his ears, for once drowning out the notes that endlessly played in his mind. Surely it couldn't be a coincidence. How many designers had the initials "MDC" in Paris? He needed to know if his suspicions were true and he needed to know now.

He strode to the door of the dressing room and yanked it open, oblivious to the fact that he was still shirtless and sticky from residual coffee until he realized that he had scared Penny half to death by suddenly opening the door as she held up a hand to knock.

"I've got a shirt for you." She offered the black garment to him, drawing his attention to the article she was holding. "You might want to put it on before you cause a stir around here." She chuckled as he blushed and took the shirt from her.

"Can I ask you something," came a muffled inquiry as he thrust his head into the shirt. "What's that bag hanging up over there?"

Penny looked at the garment bag he had gestured toward. "Oh, that was Jagged Stone's outfit for the photo shoot I was telling you about. You remember Jagged telling you about her the other day, don't you? Why do you ask?"

Luka tried to remember the conversation he'd had regarding the designer Jagged had spoke so highly of. "What did he say her name was? M… Ma… Ma… Mary?"

Penny chuckled. "Her name is Marinette. She actually dropped that off for us a little bit ago. You may have passed her on your way in, now that I think about it."

Luka couldn't believe his luck. If she was who he thought she was, then he'd finally gotten her name. The first real lead to finding his mystery designer and it was finding out her name was 'Marinette'. He smiled at his good fortune, unaware of the suspicious look Penny was giving him as she observed his pleased expression.

"Would you like to see what she made for Jagged?"

His head whipped up as he looked at her, eyes widening slightly in anticipation.

She laughed. "I take that as a yes."

When they entered the studio where Jagged's photo shoot was being held, Luka's breath hitched as he took in the outfit that Jagged Stone was wearing. It was definitely _hers._ Even to his untrained eye, he could sense her style in every stitch. The way the jacket fell across the rocker's slim shoulders, how it fell gracefully down his back, the way the tailoring made it seem almost fluid in the way the fabric moved. Everything about the design just screamed _her_.

As he watched the singer move from pose to pose as the photographer directed him, the song she had inspired inside Luka's soul began crashing through his mind, once again driving him to distraction. With his fingers tapping out the notes on his left leg, he turned to Penny and asked her if he could get this "Marinette"'s contact information.

She's a little surprised at the eagerness that Luka expresses in his question. She can't recall a time that she'd ever really seen him express even a little bit of the passion he's showing her now. But unfortunately, she has to deny his request.

"I'm sorry, Luka, but I can't just give you that information. We keep the contact information of our employees - or in Marinette's case, independent contractors – protected."

Watching his face crumble in disappointment, she sighs. "I'll tell you what I can do. I'll contact Marinette and ask her permission to share her information with you." He smiles a little before nodding his head.

Finally, finally he found her. Now, he just has to sit back and wait to hear from Penny. Feeling considerably lighter and with his fingers itching to press the strings of his guitar against the fret board, he heads back to the dressing room where he had left his guitar unattended in his haste to see his Marinette's designs in the flesh.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*Two posts in one day (well, 24 hours since it's currently 4am for me)! Yay! This chapter is one I've been looking forward to doing since I first thought up this entire mess. He knows her name! Now, what is he going to do with this information? Hmm... I guess we'll have to find out. We've still got some twists and turns to get through before these two can make actual contact. I'm looking forward to it and I hope you are too._

_And on that note, please leave me a review or a like if you're enjoying this story so far. Let me know what you like, what you don't like, what you'd like to see, where you think this story may be going, anything. Even a simple "thanks" goes a long way for me. As a little incentive, if I can get enough people giving me some feedback, I'll do another double post :D_

_Thanks again for taking the time to read this, and until next time, Lovelies XOXO*_


	8. Chapter 8 - Teddy Bear

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 8 - Teddy Bear**

Chuckling softly, Luka reached up and adjusted the headset over his ears. His clanmates' voices filtered through his ears and he listened to their petty squabbling. He hadn't gotten to play as much as he usually did with his friends due to his hectic work schedule and putting in studio time with Jagged. In his opinion, he was long overdue for some time off and what better way to spend it than with his friends?

"Yo, my man, what's up with you lately? I haven't seen you online in a while." Carapace asked.

"Oh, you know how it is. Life gets in the way. I've been busy working and practicing." He focused his attention on his screen, watching his teammates decimate a wave of low level enemies. He hung back on his perch on top of a nearby cliff and picked stragglers off with his bow.

"You sound a lot better today," Chat Noir commented. "Last time we played, you sounded upset about something."

With one last perfectly executed headshot, the wave of enemies was defeated. He and the rest of his friends waited for the countdown to announce the next wave to begin. While they waited, Luka explained what had been bothering him. "If you guys really want to know, I was looking for someone, but since I didn't know where to even begin to start looking for her, I was kind of frustrated.

"Then, just the other day, I learned her name through a mutual acquaintance of ours. When I asked for her contact information so I could talk to her, they told me they had to get her permission to share that info with me, so now I'm just waiting to hear back from them."

"Oh ho ho," Carapace said teasingly, "So you're looking for a girl?" Luka could just imagine the smug look on his friend's face as he said that. He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Sometimes his friends could be such a pain, but he wouldn't change a thing about them.

"It's not like that," he said. "When I first met her briefly, she dropped something that I want to give back to her."

"It must have been something of utmost importance for you to spend so much time trying to track her down." He could trust Ryuko's cold logic to get to the heart of the matter. She often acted as the voice of reason when his somewhat unreasonable friends would get out of hand.

"It is important," he admitted shyly. "At least, it is to me." He took a deep breath and prepared to share something deeply personal with his online friends.

"Ever since the day I literally ran into this girl, I've heard her song playing in my head and it won't go away. Even when I'm playing something else, I can hear it in the back of my skull and it's kind of driving me crazy. I'm hoping that after I find her and return what she lost, I can hear how her song ends and I can get it out of my system."

Silence greeted his heartfelt confession. While Nino knew that Luka tended to express his emotions in terms of music, the other two weren't aware of the depth with which he felt things. For Luka, this was the most forthcoming he had been with his gaming friends, but he needed to get it off his chest and it felt right talking to them about it.

"That's beautiful, Viperion," Chat Noir whispered, stricken by the intensity of Viperion's feelings. He was a little envious of how easily he could admit his feelings to others. "Whoever she is is a lucky girl."

"Chat, like I said before," he said, exasperated, "it's not like that. I want her to make me something."

"Make you something?" Ryuko asked. "I thought you didn't know who this person was. Why would you want to ask her to make you something?"

"You see, the thing that I want to return to her is actually a sketch she made of an outfit. I think she's a designer and I want her to make it for me."

Carapace laughed, "Oh? She's a designer? Maybe Chat Noir knows her. He is a model."

Wait, what? Chat noir is a model? Luka hadn't known this before. They had all agreed to keep online stuff online and real-life stuff offline. But thinking about it, maybe Chat Noir _could_ help him. How many designers out there were named "Marinette"? Not many surely.

"Carapace! You know you shouldn't reveal your friend's personal information online!" Ryuko scolded, her usual calm demeanor gaining intensity as she defended Chat Noir.

Carapace, however, was unaffected by her irritation. "Chill, Dudette. I know Viperion IRL and he's a chill guy. There's nothing to worry about. Right, Chat?"

"I guess," Chat says somewhat shyly. "Any friend of Carapace is a friend of mine."

Luka is somewhat flattered. He's always felt that there was a degree of separation between he and his fellow clan members. There were times that they talked to each other about stuff they did in the real world that he knew nothing about. They were often vague about the details, but he had figured out over time that Ladybug, Chat Noir, Carapace, and Rena Rouge had all gone to high school together. Rena and Ladybug were best friends and often met up together to grab lunch or coffee when their busy schedules would allow. Chat Noir, Ryuko and Pegasus went to the same university together. King Monkey was friends with Chat and Carapace, as well as being an old classmate of Ladybug and Rena. So, everyone else in his clan knew at least a few of each other in real life. The only one who's true identity Luka knew was Nino.

He smiled, pleased that his clan members were comfortable with him and trusted him enough to share small details about themselves with him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices a notification pop up on-screen: **LADYBUG is online.**

He sits up straighter and adjusts his grip on his controller, listening to everyone in the clan chat greet her as she loads in. He'd been hoping she would be able to get online tonight.

Just then, the countdown for the next wave of enemies reached zero and the fight was on. Adrenaline rushing, Luka got ready for battle.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

As he was setting his controller on its charging dock, he heard footfalls overhead. Glancing at the clock, he wondered who on earth would be on his houseboat so late. Before he could get too concerned about intruders, he heard his sister's voice call down to him as her footsteps tapped down the stairs to the cabin. Tension he hadn't noticed gathering in his shoulders drained away immediately as he relaxed.

He called out to her, letting her know he was in his room. He unfolded his legs and stood up from his bed, leaving his cabin to give her a proper greeting. It had been far too quiet on board with her gone, too.

When he entered the main living area of the ship, he watched as she roller her large, black suitcase to rest next to the bar that separated the galley from the living room. He crossed the room in just a few steps and wrapped his arms around her slender frame.

"I've missed you, Jule," he mumbled into her raven hair. "Welcome home."

He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and took in her appearance, making sure that she had made it home safe and sound. Other than her purple-tipped black hair being a little mussed from travelling, she appeared to be in good health.

"I missed you, too," she smiled up at her older brother.

He turned her around and used his hands on her shoulders to push her over the couch where he gently pushed her to sit down. Sitting next to her, he rested one foot on the knee of his other leg and leaned back against the cushions. "So, tell me, how did your photoshoot go? I want to hear everything."

The Couffaine siblings spent the next few hours catching up and telling each other everything thing they had missed while they had been separated.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

The next day, Juleka made her way to The Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie to meet up with Marinette to discuss the details regarding her walking in Marinette's show for Fashion Week. Considering Fashion Week was only a few short weeks away, they had a lot of work to do and she wanted to get a head start as soon as possible.

Bell chiming to announce her arrival, she walked into the bakery and experienced an intense feeling of déjà vu. She hadn't been here in forever, it felt like. When she and Marinette had been in school together, she spent many a lunch break at the little bakery, but as time had passed after they had graduated, the two girls had slowly drifted apart. They texted each other from time to time, half heartedly making plans to get together and catch up, but something always seemed to interfere with their plans and they had just left it at that.

Looking back on it now, Juleka felt guilty that she hadn't tried harder to maintain her friendship with Marinette.

Greeting Sabine behind the counter as she walked over to the stairs that led to the DuPain-Cheng apartment above the bakery, she resolved to do better as she ascended to greet her old friend.

Looking around Marinette's room, Juleka was a little surprised at how little had changed. The most notable change that had taken place was Marinette had removed all of the pictures of Adrien that had been hung all over her walls. _I guess that ship has sailed,_ she mused to herself. If she was honest with herself, it was probably for the best. The way Marinette had acted around him was frustrating and plain sad at times.

Scolding herself for such judgmental thoughts, she looked at her friend, currently hunched over her sewing machine, oblivious to her entrance from the trap door.

"Hi, Marinette," she greeted softly.

Apparently, she was so focused on her work that she hadn't heard her. Juleka walked across the room and tried again.

"Marinette?" she said once more, placing her hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

And she got it. Marinette jolted backwards out of her chair at the touch and flipped right over onto her back, stunning herself in the process.

"Juleka!" She winced as she sorted herself out and got to her feet. "Oh my god, I wasn't expecting you so soon!" She grabbed her hands and held them, truly happy to see her friend for the first time in years. "I thought you were on location for a photo shoot?"

Marinette led them to her pink chaise, where she encouraged her friend to sit. "Tell me everything. How have you been? Are you and Rose still together? How's your modelling going? How's your mom doing?"

Juleka giggled softly at her friend. She really had missed Marinette's energy. "I've been good. Rose and I are still together and she actually recently asked me to move in with her-"

Marinette's enthusiastic squeal made her wince. "Juleka, that's amazing! I'm so happy for you. When are you going to move in?"

She reached behind her and grabbed the pink, polka-dotted teddy bear sitting at the head of the couch, hugging it to her chest as she averted her amber eyes away from her friend's eager gaze. "I don't know. I wouldn't feel right leaving my brother all alone on the Liberty."

Marinette tilted her head, brows furrowed in confusion. "Brother? I didn't know you had a brother." She tucked a stray piece of her midnight black hair behind her head. "Why did you never mention him when we were in school?"

She held the bear closer to her chest, ducking her head to mumble into its plush head, "He's two years older than us and when we were in school, he was usually off doing his own thing. He had his music to occupy his time and whenever you came over to hang out, he was usually out performing in a park somewhere." She gazed at her friend through her long bangs, eyes shining with humor. "I'm actually kind of surprised that your paths never crossed before."

Marinette giggled. "Well, now that we're going to be working together, you'll have to introduce us. I'd love to meet your brother. You guys seem really close if you're willing to stay with him instead of moving in with Rose."

She paused, recalling something else that Juleka had said. "Wait a second, you said if you moved out, you'd leave your brother alone on the Liberty. Where's the Captain?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh, I forgot to mention that Mom's travelling around Europe right now. She said that she was feeling tied down, being moored in the same place all the time. So, she decided to go on what she called "an inspiration quest". So, Luka and I are holding down the fort until she gets back, whenever that is…" she sighed.

Watching Juleka talk about her brother made Marinette a little envious of their relationship. There were many times over the years that she had wished that she had a sibling that she could share the kind of bond that the Couffaine siblings obviously shared with each other, but between Alya and Adrien, she figured that they were as close as any true siblings could be.

Shaking off her melancholic thoughts, Marinette asked Juleka if they could get started with getting her measurements so she could begin working on the women's line of her collection.

As Marinette wielded her measuring tape, the girls used the opportunity afforded to them by working together to catch up on everything they had missed in each other's lives over the years.

Promising to get together soon to just hang out and not for work, the girls bid each other goodbye. On her way out, Juleka stops at the bakery counter and buys a box full of madeleines and assorted macaroons for her brother to sample when he got home from work that night.

He had told her all about the issues he had been having at the record label last night and she wanted to do what she could to help alleviate some of the stress he was obviously feeling. As they had talked, Luka had grabbed his guitar and played a bit and Juleka couldn't help but notice how discordant some of the notes had been, making it obvious to her trained ear how upset her brother truly was. To the outside world, it may have appeared that nothing could really get to Luka, but she knew him better than that.

Feeling confident that the box of treats she had bought for him would at least put a smile on his face, she left the bakery with a spring in her step.

That night, after a long day doing deliveries and an even longer evening spent at the record label, and exhausted Luka stumbled on board and looked for his sister.

Instead, he found a white box with "The Tom & Sabine Boulangerie and Patisserie" emblazoned on the top with gold foil. Opening the lid, he saw it was full of his favorite pastries, as well as a note from Juleka.

_Luka, I'm staying with Rose tonight. Don't wait up for me. I visited a friend at her parent's shop today and thought you might like some of the best pastries in the city. Don't stay up too late. Love, Jule._

With a soft smile at his kind-hearted sister, he reached into the box and picked a pink macaroon. Biting into the sweet confection, he closed his eyes and let out a soft moan, the delicate raspberry flavor exploding in his mouth. She wasn't kidding when she said they were the best pastries in Paris.

He looked at he lid of the box one more time to commit the name of the bakery to memory. He's definitely going to have to look them up sometime and sample some more of their goods if the macaroon he was eating was any indication of the quality of their food.

Opening the lid once more to grab a handful of buttery madeleines, he made his way back to his cabin to play the happy tune the tasty treats his sister had left for him had inspired.

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_*Hello readers. Not much to say today. Luka and Marinette are getting warmer. They're connected by so many people and they don't even realize it. I love writing the Couffaine Siblings together. Luka seems like such a supportive and caring older brother, so it's a little difficult for me to properly portray that kind of relationship since I only have a crazy older sister hahaha._

_But I digress. Next chapter will be kind of a transitional chapter and then big things will be happening soon. Will they finally meet? Will Luka finally get some closure? You'll have to check back in and find out. _

_Special shoutout to **Shadow-Bender** for your review. I'm glad you're enjoying my story so far. I hope you continue to love what I have in store for our favorite messes._

_Let me know what you'd like to see. Remember, review and favorites motivate me to get chapters out to you faster. _

_Until next time, Lovelies XOXO*_


	9. Chapter 9 - Letters

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 9 - Letters**

With less than three weeks to go until Paris's Fall Fashion Week, Marinette was surprisingly relaxed. After her initial fittings with both Adrien and Juleka, she had been sewing non-stop in preparation for her first major fashion show of her career. A select few of her pieces had been featured in shows and competitions before, but this was to be her official debut of "Designs by Marinette" and she couldn't be more excited… or more terrified.

So far, she had been making amazing progress completing her collection. Most of Adrien's looks were finished. It had been a big help that his measurements over the years hadn't changed much, so a lot of the clothing she had made hadn't needed much altering to fit the slender model to perfection. She really was fortunate to have such a good friend in Adrien. The advice and behind the scenes knowledge of Fashion Week he had shared with her made her confident that she was mentally prepared for her show. Admittedly, she still had had a panic attack or two due to the immense pressure she was putting on herself, but for her, that was significant progress from the absolute mess she used to be in high school. Yay for maturity! She giggled as she thought that maybe her online screen name may have rubbed some of its good luck onto her.

Carefully hanging up a meticulously packed garment bag on the portable clothing rack she had purchased for the show, she looked at her tablet once more and checked off another item on her "Fashion Week Collection Pieces" checklist.

Setting her tablet down on her sewing table, she heard the alarm on her phone begin to chime. Brow furrowed, she walked over to where it lay next to her computer, still attached to the charger. Why had she set an alarm? She couldn't remember if she had to do anything today. Later in the morning she was expecting a delivery from the fabric store that she had ordered the lining for Juleka's final look from, but she wouldn't have set an alarm to remind her of that.

Upon reading the text on screen accompanying the alarm, Marinette gasped. How could she possibly forget? She had an appointment to meet with the producer of her fashion show to go over music and a few last-minute details at 11:00am. She had thirty minutes to get to the venue on time and no time to call and reschedule the delivery of her material.

Shoving her feet into her pink ballet flats, she hastily tugged the pencil she had used to hold her midnight locks in a messy bun out of her hair and raced over to her vanity mirror. After a quick finger comb to smooth out any obvious kinks, she hastily tied her hair back into her signature pigtails. She grabbed her purse, stuffed her phone inside, and was down the trap door.

She stopped at the counter where her mother was taking care of customers to ask her mother to tell the delivery boy to take her package up to her room when he arrived to drop it off. She wanted to be extra careful with the expensive material she had ordered to be the showpiece of her collection. And frankly, she didn't want a trace of flour to mar the beautiful deep purple satin she had chosen for her masterpiece.

With a kiss blown to her mom over her shoulder and a shouted "Au revoir" to her papa, Marinette was out the door, disappearing down the street in a blur before the door closed behind her.

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Pedaling down the street with his guitar safely stowed away on his bike, Luka once again checked the GPS on his phone to make sure he was going to the right address.

A few minutes ago, while he had been sitting in the park, noodling on his guitar, he had gotten a text from the courier service he worked for, VeloPostal, asking him to make a pickup and delivery. He'd sent a reply text that he accepted the job, packed up his guitar and set out on his way to the specialty textile store, Brocade, to pick up a bolt of fabric that was to be delivered to a bakery of all places. Why a bakery would want expensive fabric, Luka could only wonder. To each their own, he supposed.

After he signed for the delivery, he secured the large bold of fabric to the back of his bike and once again brought up the job description on the phone. For the first time, he noticed the name of the bakery he was to make the delivery to: Tom & Sabine's Boulangerie and Patisserie, the very same bakery that Juleka had brought home those delicious pastries from.

The corner of his mouth turned up in a small smile as he thanked his luck on this job. Ever since he had eaten their delicious confections, he had been meaning to track down that bakery so he could get some more, but between working for the delivery service and putting up with Jagged and Mr. Roth's antics, he just hadn't had the time to scour the city in search of tasty treats. But today was apparently his lucky day.

With renewed enthusiasm, he pushed himself to go faster to arrive at the bakery. Parking his bike against the pale limestone wall of the bakery, he gently removed the bundle of cloth from the back of his bike and entered the building.

Immediately, he was surrounded by the delicious scent of freshly baked bread and hot, sweet icing. The bell over the door announced his arrival and behind the counter, a pretty little Asian woman looked around the customer she was currently serving and smiled at him.

"I'll be right with you, dear." Her voice was lyrical in its clarity, having a sweet tone to it and an almost breathless quality to it. He smiled at her and crossed over the black and white tiled floor to the display case. As he gazed upon its offerings, he completely forgot his reason for being there. The sparkling glass shelves were filled to the brim with an assortment of flaky pastries, berry topped cakes, multi-colored macaroons, and even a triple layer chocolate cake, a hefty wedge missing from where it had already been sampled by the masses. Mouth watering at the appetizing food on the other side of the glass, he gripped the package he was supposed to deliver closer to his chest to keep himself from caressing the glass in a somewhat obscene manner.

"Can I help you, sweetie," the woman behind the counter asked sweetly.

Jerking his head to snap out of his reverie, Luka reluctantly pulled his eyes away from the display of delicacies and focused his marine eyes on the woman. "I'm with VeloPostal with a delivery from Brocade," he said.

Eyes falling to the plastic wrapped package in his arms, the woman's mouth bowed in a smile. "Ah yes, My daughter mentioned that she was expecting a delivery." She wiped her hands on the apron covering her front and walked around the counter to stand in front of him. His lips quirked as he observed how much short she was compared to him.

She gazed up at him and tilted her head slightly. "I wonder if I could trouble you for a small favor. Would you be so kind as to bring that up to my daughter's room?"

Luka hesitated. It was usually frowned upon to enter a customer's home and he didn't want to get in trouble with his employer.

"I understand that it's a strange request, but I have to watch the register and Tom is in the back getting an order ready. I'd leave it down here in the bakery, but unfortunately, flour and dark fabric just do not mix well. My daughter asked me before she left to have you bring it up to her room." She tilted her head in the other direction and looked up at him with eyes sparkling with humor. "If there are any issues, I'll take full responsibility."

He thought about it for a moment. "I'll tell you what, if you can box me up a half dozen of those croissants and a slice of that fruit tart, then I'll be a customer. There aren't any rules about customers doing you any favors, is there?"

She blinked at him for a moment, before throwing her head back and laughing. "Oh, I like you." She turned and walked back behind the counter and grabbed a box to pack his order into. "You're funny. For doing me a favor, it's on the house. That way, it's a favor between friends."

He grinned at her, nodding his head. "I like the sound of that. My name is Luka."

"Enchantée, Luka. I'm Sabine. It's a pleasure to meet you," she replied.

Introductions made, he followed her directions up the stairs and made his way to the top floor of the cozy little apartment. Upon entering the room on the other side of the trap door, the first thing he noticed was the chaos. Bits of fabric and scraps of paper were scattered all over the wood floor. It was made obvious that the room belonged to a seamstress, given the sewing machine in a place of honor in the middle of the room, surrounded by other bits and bobs of her craft.

He looked around to find a safe place to leave his cargo and he decided that the best place to leave it would be right on her worktable. Tiptoeing around the mess on the floor lest he unknowingly disrupt a vital piece of her creative process, he made his way to the table that was home to a green cutting mat and multiple other folded bits of fabric. He gently placed the bolt on top and turned to leave.

And froze. There, against the wall behind the trap door, was a pair of dress forms, one male, one female. The female form was unadorned, but he didn't notice its naked state in his captivation.

On the male dress form was a work of art. A finely patterned blazed hung from the form's broad shoulders. The black fabric of the garment shimmered with a nearly imperceptible pattern of vines and the lapels were made out of silk brocade patterned with ivy leaves the color of freshly cut grass. Asymmetrical pockets accented by the same brocade were detailed on the front, one pocket on the left hip, two on the right. Stepping closer to get a better look at the jacket, Luka noticed that the lapels sparkled with fine golden thread; tiny, hand-embroidered veins decorating the ivy leaves.

The construction of the garment reminds him of the design that had haunted him since the day he picked it up from under his boot. Looking up from the piece, he notices the drawings taped to her wall behind the forms which he assumes is for easy access to her designs when she's working on the pieces.

Stepping closer, his heart stopped.

There, in the corner of every drawing, are three small letters: MDC. He reached his hand out to trace them before he realized what he was about to do. Here he is, in her private domain, invading her personal space. The tips of his ears color and he quickly withdrew his hand and shoved them both into his jacket pockets. After one last glance around her creative space, he descends the stairs into to bakery below.

Sabine – Mrs. Cheng – was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him, his box of baked goods in her hands. "Thank you so much for bringing that up for me," she said.

Once more embarrassed at almost losing his cool and touching her personal effects, Luka dragged his eyes away from her observing expression and trained them on the box she holds out for him to take.

"It's no problem at all, Mrs. …" he trailed off, stretching the silence he hoped she'd fill.

Quirking an eyebrow, she smiled in response to his not-so-subtle inquiry. "Cheng. I kept my last name after I married my husband, Tom. This bakery has been passed down in his family, so our daughter's last name is hyphenated so if she decides to take it over someday, it'll still be a DuPain Bakery."

He chuckled, walking with her as she returned to her spot behind the counter. "From what I saw upstairs, it looks like your daughter has another career path in mind."

Sabine's smile was blinding as she proudly said, "I know. My Marinette's dream is to become a famous fashion designer. She's well on her way, too." She sighed. "My husband and I are so proud of her, but I know deep down Tom wishes she would take over the bakery when she gets older." Shrugging her shoulders, she continues, "But I know that's not where her heart lies."

Nodding his head in understanding, Luka bids her adieu and leaves the bakery.

Now armed with her name, Marinette DuPain-Cheng (and some delicious, flaky pastries), he dons his helmet and pedals off down the road, more determined than ever to make the Tom & Sabine bakery a regular stop. Who knows? Maybe next time he's in the mood for a croissant, he'll run into Mademoiselle Marinette, his mystery muse.

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_*First off, I'd like to thank the amazing __**XandraRis**__ for your amazing reviews. Your reviews give me sustenance haha. I love to hear any kind of feed back and you reviewed every single chapter, like the rock star you are! Thanks!_

_Secondly, I have been working toward this chapter for eight chapters now and I'm so excited at how close they are. Oh so close... but yet, still so far. How many more near misses will there be before they can finally meet each other in real life? Tune in next time to see ;D_

_Until then, my Lovelies, XOXO*_


	10. Chapter 10 - Composition

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 10 - Composition**

The sun had set and stars were twinkling overhead when Luka finally dragged his tired body home. Stowing his bike on deck, he staggered down the stairs, falling against the wall on his way down when the boat rocked on a wave. Shaking his head to keep his eyes open, he was surprised to see his sister sitting on the couch, apparently waiting for him to get home.

"You okay there?" Juleka murmured, concerned. She watched from her perch on the couch as he walked over to sit next to her, shoes scraping lightly against the floorboards. Her eyes widened when he tossed his messenger bag on the end of the couch and collapsed into the cushions, closing his eyes as he laid his head back. "Rough day?" she asked with a dark eyebrow delicately raised.

He rubbed his face with one of his hands before cracking an eye open to look at his sister. "Ugh, it's been a rough week," he groaned. "I'm sorry I haven't been around lately. Things are still crazy at the studio and I just don't know what to do? I feel like I'm wasting my time because no matter what we come up with, it's not what Mr. Roth wants and he rejects everything. I know Jagged is getting pissed off at wasting his time too, but there's nothing we can do because Roth is the boss and has the final say on what is produced under his label. I want to just walk away and stop wasting my time when I know it's all futile, but I just can't leave Jagged in a bind like that. He's refusing to give an inch when it comes to his music, and I respect his commitment, but when is enough enough?"

Juleka's brow furrowed as she gazed at his exhausted face. He had been really busy lately. She hadn't seen him all week and she was starting to get worried at the crazy hours he'd been keeping. "When is Vivica coming back from maternity leave?" she asked.

He sighed, lifting his head off the back of the couch so he could properly talk to his sister. "Not soon enough, honestly." His shoulders sagged as he thought about the pressure he'd been under the last few weeks. If he were honest with himself, there were times that he regretted agreeing to being the studio guitarist on Jagged's new song single. But, he wasn't the kind of guy to deny someone if they asked him for help, so he'd see it through until the end. However, whether the end would be Jagged and Mr. Roth finally coming to an agreement on their ridiculous feud, or Vivica's return to being Jagged's main guitarist, he didn't know. What he did know was that he was desperate for a break. "Don't worry about me, though. What are you doing up so late?"

"Well…" she began, looking down at her hands clasped tightly on her lap, "I wanted to talk to you about something, but between you working so much and me working and trying to find time to spend with Rose, we haven't been able to talk much lately."

Luka reached over and gently placed his hand on top of hers. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

She laughed softly. "I know. I wanted to ask if you could take some time off on the 30th."

"That's all?" he asked, shaking his head. "You had me worried that something was wrong. You made it sound so serious." He tilted his head as he looked at her. "What's happening on the 30th?"

"I'm going to be walking the catwalk in a fashion show during Fashion Week," she explained, her voice breathless in her excitement. "A friend of mine is having her first show and asked me to be her model."

Luka rushed to his feet and yanked his sister off the couch into a hard embrace, his exhaustion forgotten in his exuberance. "Juleka! That's amazing!" She giggled when he spun her around in a circle and set her back on her feet. "Why didn't you tell me before? This is huge! I'm so proud of you."

She hid her face behind the dark curtain of her hair as her face flushed. "I didn't tell you because I knew you'd make a big deal about it." She mumbled as she reclaimed her seat on the couch.

"Sorry, but I'm really happy for you," he said with a grin as he sat next to her. "I'll definitely make sure to come see you in the show."

As they continued to talk about what they'd been up to since the last time they'd really talked, Luka couldn't help but wonder if Marinette would be at Fashion Week. He'd make it a point to ask around after Juleka's show and see if he could find more information about her. Especially since so far, he'd struck out on catching her at the bakery.

For the past week, whenever he had a chance, he'd stopped by Tom & Sabine's bakery and sampled their wares. Sadly, every single time he's been there, Marinette hadn't been home, according to what her parents told him. At times, he couldn't help but wonder if her mom had figured out the real reason why he'd started coming to the store so frequently.

It wasn't completely fruitless though. He'd developed a fairly good relationship with the petite Chinese woman who had taken to giving him extra macaroons or pastries in return for his sudden frequent business. He felt a little bad about going there with ulterior motives, but he really would have gone there regardless of his desire to finally talk to Marinette. Their food was delicious and had become the highlight of his day if he found the time to visit.

Suddenly remembering the leftovers from his trip to the bakery earlier that day in his messenger bag, he reached over and grabbed his bag. Pulling the paper bag out, he tossed it onto his sister's lap.

"What's this?" She looked at the bag, and then opened it to peer at the pain au chocolat inside. "Oh, I see. You're hooked, too, huh?" she teased.

"Too?" he asked, a little confused.

"The DuPain-Cheng bakery was famous in my class while I was in school. My friend would often bring in treats for the class from there and we'd all usually end up going there for lunch a few times a week."

He chuckled. "I can see why. Their food is amazing."

And with that, he bid his sister good night and retreated to his room, where the melody of the baker's daughter lulled him into a restless sleep.

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"Man oh man oh man oh man. Why did I think it would be a good idea to bead the _entire_ bodice of this stupid dress? Yeah, it's going to be gorgeous, but it's such a pain in the ass! Why, oh why would I completely change the composition of the most important piece in my show only ONE WEEK before the show? The dress was beautiful before, but noooo, I just had to try to make it better. What is wrong with me?"

Marinette was freaking out. With less than a week to go until her show, she was in full-scale panic-mode. Her band-aid covered hands were a blur as she hand-sewed black seed beads onto the bodice of the dress she had designed for Juleka to wear for her show. Working fast, she hissed as the needle she recklessly wielded stabbed into her finger once again. Yelping, she dropped the needle and rolled back in her chair so she didn't get blood on the fabric. Sucking on the wound, she glared at the dress, irritated at her own carelessness.

She set the dress aside, deciding to take a break. Her poor fingers couldn't take much more abuse. She stretched her arms over her head to ease the ache in her back from being hunched over her desk for the past few hours, meticulously attaching bead after bead after bead. With a final withering glance at her dress, she stood up and walked away, sitting down at her computer chair instead. What she needed was a distraction for a little bit to help clear her mind. She grabbed her controller and turned on her console, ready to ease her irritation.

Glancing at her clock, she realized how late it was. With a shrug, she decided that if none of her clan mates were online, she'd just do some solo grinding for a little bit and then resume her beading.

When she brought up her friend list, she grinned when she realized that she wasn't the only one online so late. She picked up her headset and quickly placed it on her head, smoothing her hair away from her face in the process.

"Hi, Viperion, how's it going?" she cheerfully greeted her teammate, blue eyes sparkling.

"Ladybug, I wasn't expecting you to be on tonight." His soothing voice tickled her ear. There was just something about his voice that made her stomach flutter. He could be reading the dictionary and she'd still hang on to his every word.

"Same here. I haven't seen you online lately. Have you been busy?" From what Alya and the others had told her, it seemed like she and Viperion had been playing an online game of tag: neither of them had been on at the same time for weeks, sometimes missing each other by mere minutes.

His heartfelt groan made her giggle. "I work for an unreasonable dictator, so yeah, I've been busy. I just want to get the job done and move on with my life, but nothing we do is good enough to satisfy the higher-ups, so we're forced to redo everything over and over again."

"That's awful," she agreed. "I've been pretty crazy myself. I've got this thing next week that I'm finishing up the final details of and I'm starting to panic."

"Hm…" His soft hum resonated in her ear. "If you panic, you'll make mistakes. Just calm down and you should be fine. And don't forget, you can ask for help if you need to. I'm sure you have people in your life that you can count on to have your back if you need to."

"Yeah, I know, but telling me to be calm doesn't actually mean that I'll actually do it," she jokingly replied. "I'm bleeding all over myself at this point, which is why I'm taking a break and playing."

"Wait, you're bleeding? Are you okay?" The concern in his voice was palpable.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm being dramatic, as usual.," she reassured him. She explained that she wasn't _really_ bleeding, just pricked her fingers a few times. She giggled again when his relieved sigh filtered through her headset. He really was too adorable sometimes.

They continued their conversation for almost an hour before Marinette decided that her break had gone on long enough, refreshed from her interaction with the smooth-talking Viperion. "I've got to get back to work and if you're as busy as you say you are, you should be sleeping, not wasting your time with me."

"Spending time with you is not a waste of my time." Her eyes widened slightly at his response. "In fact, I think it's safe to say that it's been the highlight of my day. Thank you, Ladybug."

Heart thumping in her chest at his candid compliment, she murmured goodnight to him and signed off, staring at her screen without blinking as she replayed what he had said over and over again in her head.

She recognized the feelings brewing in her chest from her previous infatuation with Adrien. Marinette jumped up from her chair, knocking it over in her haste. 'Nope, not gonna happen,' she thought to herself. 'I am not crushing on someone whose name I don't even know!'

She thought she was done with this nonsense. She was a strong, independent, semi-levelheaded woman and she refused to lose her mind over some guy that she had never met. Yeah, she really enjoyed spending time with him online, and she'll admit that when she saw his name highlighted on her friends list indicating that he was online, she always felt a tiny thrill creep up her spine. But he was just a good friend that she played with from time to time. He wasn't anyone special. She didn't have time for anyone special. She needed to focus on her career now, and not lose what sanity she had left chasing after a boy she knew nothing about.

Determined, she continued to talk herself out of the feelings she felt blossoming toward the soft-spoken boy.

Now needing a distraction from her distraction, she rushed over to her worktable and began furiously attaching beads to the garment.

But try as she might, she couldn't stop his silky voice from echoing in her mind.

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_*Yay! New Chapter! Sorry for the late upload, but this chapter refused to flow for me. I'm still not 100% happy with it, but I'm not going to stress over it anymore and just move on. _

_Throw me some reviews, and I'll post the next chapter tonight. That chapter I'm really excited about. Next chapter will be the fashion show and I'm excited for y'all to read it._

_Until next time, Lovelies XOXO*_


	11. Chapter 11 - Cupid's Arrow

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 11 - Cupid's Arrow**

"Today's the day," Marinette uttered nervously, pressing a hand against her churning stomach in a fruitless attempt to untie the knots her insides were tied in. Her nerves were stretched to the limit, ready to snap. She gazed up at the building where her fashion show would take place in a few short hours. She wasn't ready to go inside. Not until her knees stopped trembling, at least.

She'd been a quivering mess since she woke up this morning. The countless hours of work had all led up to this moment. This was the goal she'd been working toward all these years. Every drop of blood, each drip of sweat, every single sleepless night spent hunched over her sewing machine had been for this chance to showcase her talents and hopefully catch the eye of a famous fashion house that would want to take her on as a designer.

Hands shaking, she gripped the strap of her purse in a futile attempt to steady them.

When a warm arm suddenly wrapped around her shoulders, she shrieked and nearly jumped out of her skin. Spinning in place to view her attacker, she lost her balance and nearly fell over.

"Easy there, Marinette," Adrien chuckled, hands gripping her arms to keep her on her feet. He gazed at her as she inhaled deeply, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating. "Are you going to be okay?"

Stepping back out of his personal space, she closed her eyes and counted to three, opening them once again to observe her friend.

He'd grown into a truly handsome man. His shining blond hair was artfully styled into deceptively careless disarray, a few wayward strands falling over his brow and into his vivid green eyes. Mouth pulled into a devious smirk, she heard him continue to laugh at her clumsiness. She pouted a bit at how truly handsome he was. It wasn't fair for someone to be so damn good-looking.

"I'm fine," she bit, annoyed that he had once again caught her unravelling at the seams. "I'm just a little nervous."

He laughed. "A little? When I touched you, you nearly came out of your skin."

"You just startled me, is all."

Once more, Adrien chuckled softly at her. "You'll do great. The hard part is already over. Now," he said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders once more, encouraging her to go inside with him, "let's do this, Marinette."

Gathering her courage, she held her head high and stepped inside.

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"Mlle. DuPain-Cheng, music starts in twenty minutes," the producer – a severe-looking woman with auburn hair pulled into a no-nonsense bun - informed her, clipboard firmly in her hand. "Are your models ready?"

Glancing behind her at her friends, she smiled and nodded her head. She had just finished helping Juleka dress in her first outfit: a tunic length purple sweater with a wide cowl neck that exposed Juleka's slender shoulders and black floral print leggings. Completing the ensemble was a pair of knee-high platform boots.

Adrien stood next to her looking absolutely dashing in a deep green, v-neck t-shirt, a casual pin-striped blazer emphasizing his broad shoulders and trim waist. Dark washed jeans and white sneakers completed his look. If she had seen him in an outfit like this when she had still been infatuated with him, she would have gushed about how the color of his shirt perfectly matched his eyes and how the blazer drew attention to his perfect butt…

But she wasn't still infatuated with him, so she'd keep those thoughts to herself, she mused.

"You guys look amazing," she said happily. "Thank you so much for helping me today, guys. I really appreciate it."

Juleka smiled softly and said, "No, Marinette, thank you for giving me an opportunity to walk down the catwalk. You're helping me as much as I'm helping you. I even asked my brother to come today so he could see me model in your show. He was so proud of me when I told him I was going to be modelling during Fashion Week and it's all thanks to you.. With as much attention as you're sure to get with your fabulous clothes, I'll get to shine along side you as your model." She giggled softly as she cocked her hip out. "With clothes as cute as these, there's no way they're not going to love you."

"She's right, you know." Adrien reached over and rested his elbow on Juleka's shoulder, grinning at her. "You're going to be a smash hit, my Lady. You're not alone here. Alya is covering your show for her blog, Nino's up in the DJ booth cuing up the music as we speak, and don't forget your parents out in the audience. We're all here for you and we're so proud of you."

"Thanks, guys." Reassured from her friends' kind words, she shook her head and focused on the task at hand.

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In the audience, Luka was waiting patiently for the show to begin. Looking around, he saw a few familiar faces, which put him at ease. Across the room, up in the DJ booth, Nino had his headphones on, jamming out the music only he could hear as he got his set list ready for the show. Wondering at the small world he lived in, he spotted Alya Cesaire, Nino's girlfriend, sitting in the front row, taking pictures with her cell phone and excitedly tapping away on the screen. _Must be doing a story on Fashion Week for her blog,_ he thought. He'd run into her a few times when he and Nino had collaborated together on a project.

Personally, he was excited to see his sister in her first fashion show. Really was proud of how much she's grown in the past few years. When she had first told him she wanted to be a model, he supported her dream whole-heartedly, but worried whether someone as introverted as she could make it in such a cut-throat business.

His worries had been unnecessary. She had proved all who doubted her wrong and had been steadily finding work doing magazine ads and even appearing on a few billboards recently. But nothing could compare to this. Even though it was for an unknown designer, being able to put that she'd modeled in a Fashion week show would open a lot of doors for her modeling career and he wished nothing but the best for his beloved sister. He'd be there to watch over her, after all.

When the lights dimmed, he sat up, eyes focused on the raised catwalk and waited to see his sister. Techno music pounded through the once silent room, increasing the energy level in the room with is solid base beat.

Behind a screen at the entrance of the stage, he saw a feminine silhouette appear, striking a sassy pose with her hip cocked and her hand behind her head. His mouth gaped as he watched his sister - his shy, mild mannered sister – strut down the lane, hair billowing behind her and her eyes on fire. He could barely recognize his sibling in this fierce woman posing at the end of the walk, showcasing the outfit she was wearing.

When she disappeared backstage, the screen illuminated again, this time outlining a male model. His eyes widened when he recognized the man from advertisements plastered with his face all over the city. It was Adrien Agreste, the face of his father's internationally branded fashion line. Screams erupted in the room as the audience recognized the handsome model strutting down the catwalk with the grace and intensity of a panther.

The designer responsible for this show was very smart to use him for their show, he decided. Come morning, their designs would be plastered all over social media and possibly even the news now that Adrien Agreste was the one wearing them. And his sister would be piggy-backing on top of that fame, launching her own career into possible fame.

Once the blond model retreated backstage to prepare his next outfit, Luka watched as his sister once again took the stage, wearing a completely different ensemble. How they changed her entire look in less than two minutes was absolutely astounding. It must be pure chaos behind the scenes, he mused.

However, his amusement faded as he continued to watch the show. With each ensemble that was shown, his eyes narrowed further. He recognized some of these clothes. He'd seen them taped to the wall when he'd delivered that fabric to his designer.

_It's impossible, _he thought to himself. _There's no way such coincidences exist._

Still denying the possibility that the girl he'd been looking for for so long was the one who was responsible for the show that his sister was modeling in, his jaw dropped when Adrien walked out in his final look: the embroidered blazer that Luka had seen hanging on the mannequin.

Suspicions confirmed, he grinned, disbelieving his luck. Now, he wouldn't have to try to track her down. He found her without even knowing he'd done it. Even better, his sister already knew his elusive designer and could introduce her to him after the show.

He whistled under his breath when he saw the show's final piece. Juleka came out dressed in a gorgeous dress. The strapless top shimmered with beads under the bright stage lights. A silver-buckled black satin belt transitioned into a full skirt. The outer layer of black satin contrasted beautifully with the deep purple satin lining, visible due to the front of the skirt ending at Juleka's thighs and the back cascading down to the floor. Opaque black stockings covered her exposed legs and protected the modesty of his sister, which he was secretly grateful for.

She gracefully walked to the end of the catwalk where Adrien was waiting for her. With a final pose, the two models leaned into each other with wide smiles in response to the roaring applause thundering through the room. turning toward the entrance of the stage, they waved, gesturing for someone to join them.

Tearing his eyes away from his stunning sister, his breath caught when the designer stepped on stage. He could almost hear the twang as he felt a punch in the gut, like he'd been shot by Cupid's arrow.

She was petite and slender, her limbs willowy and graceful as she joined her models. Her dark hair shined blue under the lights, pulled back into a bun at the base of her neck with a few tendrils escaping to caress her neck. Her bright, blue eyes glistened with unshed tears as she stood proudly next to her designs. Pink lips stretched into a grin as she reached her hands out to either side of her and took her companion's hands. With a final smile at the audience, the trio bowed, thanked the audience for their praise, and escaped backstage.

Luka was stunned. How on earth had he missed how pretty she was when she crashed into him that first day? In his defense, she had been in such a hurry and so he hadn't had the chance to get a good look at her, but had he really been so oblivious?

Unable to wait another minute to finally meet his elusive muse – and congratulate his sister on a job well done – he rose from his seat and made his way back stage, eager to be introduced to the blue-eyed beauty responsible for the music pounding in his head.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*Thank you for all those who read my story. I appreciate you taking the time to read it._

_Special shout out to __**XandraRis**__ (as always, you rock!) and __**Fanfictions4ever**__ for making the effort to leave me a review. It lets me know that you liked what I've created enough to bother telling me what you think. And I truly appreciate it._

_We're finally going to see these two fumbling cuties meet face to face next chapter. And is that a date I see looming in the horizon? Possibly..._

_If I can get 5 people to review, I'll post chapter 12 tonight. Otherwise, I'll just leave it until tomorrow ;) _

_Until next time, my lovelies XOXO*_


	12. Chapter 12 - Proposal

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 12 - Proposal**

To say that Marinette was a stunned would be an understatement. She was damn near catatonic after seeing an entire room full of people applauding and cheering for _her_ designs. Something that she had created. A piece of her heart made physical for the world to see.

This was all a dream, right? She could hardly believe that what she had just experienced was real.

The roaring in her ears rendered her deaf to the flurry of activity around her as the production crew prepared for the next show. It took almost being run over by an assistant pushing a rolling clothing rack before she finally came back to her senses.

She stumbled out of the way, hands trembling and eyes glassy, utterly shell-shocked. When Juleka and Adrien reappeared after changing into their own clothes and spotted her wandering around backstage, they rushed over to her.

"Woah, Marinette, you okay?" Juleka's gentle inquiry was pointless. It was obvious that their friend was definitely _not_ okay.

Adrien took hold of Marinette's hand and gently led her to a nearby chair. Coaxing her to sit and put her head between her knees, he soothingly rubbed circles on her back. "You'll be alright, Marinette. Just breathe. Deep breaths… In… and out…" He felt her listen to his instructions through his hand. "There you go. You've got it."

Over the years, he'd witnessed many of Marinette's panic attacks, so he was well equipped to handle them. He was actually surprised that she'd held out long enough for the show to end before falling to pieces.

After a few minutes, her breathing steadied and her heartbeat slowed. Suddenly aware of their surroundings, she suggested to the others that they make their way toward the lobby so they could meet up with their friends and family that had come to see the show.

With Juleka and Adrien flanking Marinette, they went to meet the others.

Down the hall, a figure appeared, walking toward the trio. Recognizing him, Juleka gasped softly and jogged ahead to meet him.

"Luka, did you see the show? What did you think? Did I do a good job?" She looked up at her older brother for approval. Behind them, Adrien and Marinette watched curiously as he stroked a hand down her long hair and turned to greet them when they approached.

Juleka held on to his arm as she made her introductions. "Marinette, Adrien, this is my brother, Luka."

Stepping away from his sister, Luka approached Marinette and held his hand out for her to take. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Marinette." His voice was soft and smooth. Just hearing him speak seemed to calm the last of her frazzled nerves.

Her eyes darted from his hand, to his face, and back again before she slowly slid her hand into his. She pursed her lips as she looked up at him. For some reason, he seemed familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on where she'd seen him before. "It's nice to meet you, too. Juleka's told me a lot about you."

He chuckled softly as he rolled his eyes toward his sister. "Don't believe everything you hear."

Her eyebrows raised she frantically defended her friend, "Oh no, she didn't say anything bad about you or anything. She actually spoke very highly of you. She told me that she couldn't wait for me to meet you." She gasped, realizing what she had just said. "Not that she was trying to get us to meet or anything. Just that you both have a good relationship and thought we would get along and-"

"Marinette," Juleka interrupted her. "Breathe."

She felt her face get warmer when she finally closed her mouth so she wouldn't shove her foot further into it. She shyly raised her eyes to look at Luka, who gazed down at her with a soft smile.

"You're a funny girl, Marinette," he teased.

Blushing wildly, she jumped when she felt Adrien come up behind her and introduce himself. She glanced between the two young men and was surprised at the tight set of Adrien's mouth as he gave the other boy a fake smile. Usually, he's always happy to make a new friend, but there was a tension to his face when he spoke to Luka that confused her. Did Adrien not like Luka or something?

Hearing her name being called, she peered around Luka. She saw her parents walking as quickly as they could toward where her group had congregated.

"Marinette, we're so proud of you! Did you hear the crowd cheering for your designs?" Tom gushed when they finally reached the others. His face beamed as he wrapped his strong arms around his daughter in a massive bearhug that lifted her off her feet and nearly cracked a rib.

"Tom, put the poor girl down," Sabine said, swatting at his arm playfully. He chuckled and apologized as he gingerly set his daughter back on her feet.

"Luka, it's good to see you again," she greeted the young man who had quickly become a regular customer at their shop.

"Maman," Marinette said. "How do you know Luka?" She was genuinely confused. How on earth did her mom meet Juleka's brother?

Sabine told her that he had been the one to deliver her fabric and he'd been coming back to the bakery every few days ever since. Marinette could only shake her head at how small the world truly was. She couldn't believe that she'd never met Luka before today, especially since apparently, he'd become a regular at the shop.

The subject of her thoughts returned her parent's greeting, striking up a casual conversation with them before telling all of them that he had to leave. He gave his sister a quick hug and told her he'd see her at home. But before he walked away, he turned to the black-haired designer. "Marinette, I was wondering, you aren't busy later, could I take you out for coffee? There's something I'd like to talk to you about, if you have the time."

She stared at him, mouth agape. Was he asking her out on a date? No, he couldn't be. He just wanted to talk to her about something. He'd said so himself. That's all. No big deal. It's not like this absolutely gorgeous guy was asking to spend time with her. Nope…

Juleka giggled under her breath as she watched her friend freeze when her brother asked her out for coffee. She leaned over and elbowed her in the ribs, jolting her friend into agreeing to meet him later that afternoon at a café down the street.

With a final wave, Luka walked away, leaving the group to celebrate amongst themselves.

Hearing his name being yelled, he looked to his left to see Nino walking toward him. "Hey bro, what did you think of Marinette's show? Your sister looked amazing, didn't she?"

"Wait, you know Marinette?"

"Of course, I know Marinette! She's my girlfriend's best friend. We've been friends for years."

He could only shake his head in wonder. After all that time searching and agonizing, she'd already been closely connected to him and he'd been clueless. He closed his eyes and chuckled to himself.

"Dude, you okay?"

He ran his hand down his face and looked at his friend. "Yeah. I'm just now realizing how small the world truly is. She's the one I told you about. The girl I was looking for."

Nino grinned as realization dawned. "Hold up a minute. The designer you were talking about that day was Marinette?" He howled with laughter at the coincidence. "Oh man, bro, she was literally right under your nose the whole time and you didn't even know it. Ha, that's priceless, dude."

When Luka tried to get him to explain what he meant, he refused to say anything. "I'm gonna wait for you to figure it out, bro. It's funnier that way."

With that parting shot, Nino left to meet up with the rest of his friends inside, leaving Luka confused. What did Nino know that he didn't?

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Luka sat patiently at a table while he waited for Marinette to arrive. He idly tapped his fingers, playing an imaginary song against the tabletop.

He wasn't nervous though. He was excited. After so long, he'd finally be able to finish what he'd started that fateful day he picked up her design.

Eyes focused on the entrance, he smiled as he watched her open the door, and then promptly trip over the threshold. After stumbling for a few steps, Marinette regained her balance. Smoothing down any hair that her near-fall had disheveled, she glanced around the café anxiously, hoping that none of the other patrons had seen her blunder. She locked her eyes with Luka's and promptly flushed, causing him to cover his mouth with his hand so she wouldn't see him laughing at her. Of course, it would be her luck that the only person to see her oh-so graceful entrance was the one person she'd hoped hadn't.

She carefully navigated the busy café to avoid bumping into any of the other customers, joining Luka at the table he'd claimed.

"I'm sorry if you had to wait long," she said. "I had to convince my parents that they didn't need to throw a huge party for me to 'celebrate my success'." She used her fingers to make air-quotes as a smile crept onto her face.

"No, I haven't been waiting long," he lied. He didn't tell her that he'd gone directly to the café after leaving the fashion show venue so he could mentally prepare for their conversation and grab a table before the café got too busy.

She sighed in relief and looked around. He saw her read the menu board hanging behind the service counter, pursing her lips as she looked for something that appealed to her.

He leaned forward, a teasing smile on his face "See anything you like?" and motioned his head toward the menu.

Blushing at his unintentional inuendo, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm just going to get a plain coffee. I'm not really a fan of those fancy flavored lattes." She moved to rise from her chair when he placed his hand on her arm, keeping her in her seat.

"Stay here. I'll get it for you." He smiled at her. "My treat." Then he quickly walked up to the counter before she could protest, weaving through the crowd with an easy grace that had her pouting. It wasn't fair that she's a blundering mess and here he is, all lazy elegance.

As she watched him placing her coffee order, she was struck again by a sense of familiarity. She just knew that she'd seen him somewhere before, but she couldn't remember where. The more she looked at him, the more irritated she became at her own faulty memory. You'd think that she'd surely remember someone who looked like _that_.

Shaking her head at the direction her thoughts had veered, she turned her attention to the other people in the café, if only to distract herself from her unwanted appreciation of how handsome Luka was.

After only a few minutes, he returned with a white mug of steaming, black coffee for her. He gave her a few moments to enjoy her drink before suddenly asking, "Do you remember me?"

Coffee spewed out of her mouth like a geyser. Coughing, she snatched some napkins from the dispenser on the table and hastily mopped up the mess her spit-take had made, apologizing for spitting coffee all over him.

He reassured her that he was okay and patiently waited for her to regain her composure.

Once she'd calmed down, she looked him over once again, hoping to jog her memory. Teal-tipped black hair that hung into eyes that shone with the color of a Caribbean ocean. Soft, pink lips with a gentle smile rested under a narrow, straight nose. Hidden by his shaggy hair, his ears were adorned with black plug earrings. When he brought up his own cup to take a sip, she took a good look at his hands. Her eyes widened and a grin appeared on her face when she finally remembered where she had seen him from. She remembered those hands!

"I do remember you!"

His eyebrows raised at her energetic reply. With as frazzled she had been, he didn't think she would have remembered her own name, let alone the face of the man she'd almost smeared into a stain on the sidewalk.

"I saw you at Roth Records, playing your guitar in one of the studios." She averted her eyes. "I didn't realize you'd seen me watching you play. I'm sorry if I'd interrupted your practice, but your song was so beautiful, couldn't help myself. I had to listen."

His mouth opened faintly in surprise. That was not what he had expected. He hadn't known that someone had watched him playing. He shrugged it off. It didn't bother him that she'd been watching him play. He was flattered that his music had drawn her in so strongly.

"I didn't even know you'd seen me there."

Now she was confused. "Then why did you ask if I remembered you?

He leaned back and reached into his denim jacket. "Because we met once before, when you crashed into me when I assume you were running to meet Jagged Stone for the concept meeting for his photo shoot."

"How do you know about that?" she gasped.

"Because you dropped this." He pulled the paper that he'd been carrying around with him for the past month like a lucky charm and slid it toward her. She unfolded it and her shocked eyes snapped up to meet his.

"How did…" she trailed off, mouth gaping as she stared at him.

"You were in such a hurry, you didn't grab all your papers when you picked them up after we ran into each other that day. You left that behind and I found it."

She was stunned. She'd honestly forgotten about the design she'd lost. Now here Luka was, returning it to her after so long. "Wait a second, how did you know I'd be here today?"

He chuckled. "I didn't. I've been carrying that picture around with me since then, hoping that I'd somehow run into you again."

Her jaw dropped. "What? Why would you do that?"

"To be perfectly honest," he hunched forward, resting his arms on the table as he leaned toward her, "I have a proposal for you."

Marinette leaned back in her chair, her fist clenched reflexively, crumpling the paper in her hand. She couldn't concentrate on the words coming out of his mouth when he was that close to her. Her mind raced with all the possibilities his "proposal" might be. "Wha- What kind of p-p-proposal?" she stuttered.

His lips turned up in a soft smile and he reached out and grabbed her tight fist, turning it over and gently prying her fingers open so she wouldn't ruin her drawing. "Relax. I just wanted you to make this for me. How much would it cost to commission you to make this?" He plucked the paper out of her hand and smoothed it out on the table.

Her breath hitched and her heart pounded against her ribs at his casually gentle touch. Finally registering what he'd said, she said skeptically, "Seriously?"

He nodded. "You see, ever since that day, I've wanted this," he said, releasing her hand to tap the paper "for myself. There's something about this outfit you've envisioned that's inspired me."

"It inspired you…?" she breathed.

"Yes. The moment I saw this, I've had this song stuck in my head. A song your creation inspired in me." He leaned back and gazed at her from under his bi-colored bangs. "I have to admit, I've been trying to find you ever since, just so I could ask you to make this for me… And, so I could see if meeting you again would help me finish the song you started in my head."

Marinette could feel the blood rushing to her face, darkening her complexion all the way to her hairline. "And? Has it helped? Do you think you can finish your song now?"

The corner of his lip quirked up as he picked up the paper laying between them, carefully folding it up and placing it back in her hand, curling her fingers around the page with his own. "I don't know yet. I think I may have to spend a bit more time with you before I'm satisfied."

'Oh my god, he's flirting with me. Is he flirting with me? He's definitely flirting with me!' Marinette is freaking out on the inside. She pulls her hand away from his and leans away from him. This guy's charm should come with a warning. She slowly draws in a breath, giving her a moment to clear her head before responding.

"Tell you what, I'll make this for you. All I ask in return is that when your song is done, I want to be the first one to hear it. That's my price."

He grinned at her. He's definitely getting the better end of this bargain. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

With their deal struck, they exchange contact info and make plans for Luka to contact Marinette when he has time away from work for him to come to her house for a fitting.

Business completed, they left the café. Luka offered to give her a ride back to the bakery, but she refused. There was no way she could ride behind him, holding tight to his waist. Her blood pressure couldn't handle that.

Saying goodbye, she watched him pedal away, thinking to herself, 'What have I gotten myself into…?'.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

*_We finally have face to face interaction! YAY! This chapter was a monster for me to write. I redid it about six times before I was satisfied with their meeting. And personally, I love the idea of Luka being a bit of a flirt with Marinette. After all, this girl has been plaguing his thoughts for so long now, I think he's relieved to finally talk to her. I'm excited for these two to get to know each other IRL._

_Special thanks to __**XandraRis **__(as always, you rock!), __**Rennie3628**__, and __** Lavendor Queen**__ for your kind reviews. Your support helps keep me motivated to finish this journey. Ask and you shall receive!_

_Until next time, my Lovelies XOXO*_


	13. Chapter 13 - Kisses

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 13 - Kisses**

"Viperion, are you humming right now?" Carapace asked. "You do realize we're in the middle of a boss fight, right?"

"Leave the boy alone, Carapace. It's obvious something good happened to him for him to be in such a good mood." Rena Rouge scolded. Viperion chuckled at how fiercely she'd defended him, even though it didn't bother him at all to be called out like that in the clan chat.

"Really? Care to share with the rest of the class?" Ladybug teased. She was a little disappointed that his humming had stopped, though. It made her smile to hear him unconsciously expressing his pleasure. He had an excellent humming voice. Is that even a thing? Or is it just a singing voice? Regardless, she enjoyed listening to him regardless of what kind of sound he was making. The smooth tone of his voice did wonderful things to her nerves and gave flight to the butterflies in her stomach.

"Well," he said, hesitating. "I found her, guys." He felt a little weird mentioning Marinette around Ladybug. She hadn't been online when he had initially discussed his little problem regarding the hard-to-find designer, and now he was wondering if he shouldn't have just kept it to himself. He and Ladybug had been growing closer over the past few months and it didn't feel right talking about another girl when she was listening. But he was happy that he had found her and wanted to talk about it to his friends.

"You seriously found her?" Chat Noir asked. "Congrats! I'm glad it worked out for you."

Carapace began giggling into his microphone, trying hard to hold back his laughter but failing miserably in the end.

"Hey, are you okay?" Chat's voice sounded confused. What was so funny about Viperion finding the girl he'd been searching for? Chat was happy that his friend would finally be able to talk to her about her design. Plus, it was really sweet that he'd been so affected by her that he kept hearing her song in his head. He wasn't really sure what that meant exactly, but Viperion obviously couldn't forget about the girl… A feeling he knew all too well.

"Hold on a second," Rena said. "Who is 'her'?" She knew that her friend had a minor fascination with their reptilian clan mate, but if he was off the market, that would make things difficult for her to ship them together. She'd been trying for weeks to get Nino to tell her who he was, but her boyfriend was even harder to crack than his namesake.

"I first mentioned her to the guys about a month ago. You and Ladybug weren't on that night, so I guess they didn't tell you about it, huh?"

"No," She replied through clenched teeth. "Carapace definitely did not mention that you were looking for some random girl."

Carapace's nervous chuckle echoed in their headsets. He was sure that his girlfriend would give him hell for not telling her about it later.

"Anyway, I've been looking for someone for a while now and I finally found her the other day."

"That's awesome, Viperion," Chat cheered. He was a sucker for happy endings, especially since his own life felt like such a tragedy.

"Oh, Chat, if you only knew…" Carapace's cryptic response confused everybody, but he quickly changed the subject before they could ask him about it. "So, are you going to see her again?"

"Yeah, we're going to get together again later this week," he replied, his anticipation palpable for them to hear.

"Aw, that's great," Chat cooed. "Good luck, buddy."

A loud smack filtered through their headsets. Unbeknownst to the other listeners, Nino had slapped his forehead in exasperation at how completely clueless his friends were. Seriously, it was too much for him to take sometimes.

"That's…awesome, Viperion. It's just…awesome. If you're so interested in her, she must be just…awesome." Ladybug's voice was stilted and they all could tell that something had upset their friend.

"Girl, you okay?" Rena had hoped that she wouldn't be upset by this development, but it looked like it was inevitable. She sighed, knowing that she'd be doing damage control soon.

"Yeah, Rena, I'm awesome. I just remembered that I had this…thing I had to do so I'm gonna log off. I'll talk to you later."

With that, her avatar disappeared, indicating that she was now offline.

Viperion was concerned. Ladybug usually wasn't the type of player to quit in the middle of battle, especially a boss battle. It was apparent that something had bothered her about the direction their conversation had taken. Maybe she was disappointed that he had been talking about stuff that had happened in the real world, something she was adamant about keeping separate from gaming. He felt guilty for driving her away. "Was it something I said?" he asked his friends.

"Dude," Carapace said seriously, "you have no idea…"

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

It's been almost a week since the fashion show and Luka's patience was finally paying off.

Finally, after months of being stuck in the middle of the tug-of-war game between Mr. Roth and Jagged Stone, he's been set free.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't mind being forced to come to the studio day after day to play for his idol, but the futility of the exercise and the fact that he had something else he would much rather be doing was enough to make the normally patient man quite irritable. His sister had even commented that he seemed to be on edge lately and wondered what the cause for it was.

But now, thank god, Vivica was back from her maternity leave and ready to take his place as Jagged's guitarist. Luka didn't mind being a temporary replacement. After all, he had no grand ambitions of being a rock star or anything. He just loved to play, even if it was playing someone else's music.

Though, considering everything he and Jagged had worked on had been scrapped, it wasn't as if he'd be given any sort of credit for the time he put in at the studio.

He didn't let that bother him. He knew that if Jagged needed him again, he'd be there to play for him, no matter how frustrating the circumstances were.

The silver lining to the whole situation was that now he was free to pursue his current interest: a Miss Marinette DuPain-Cheng.

Resting his bike against the side of the bakery, he looked up at the storefront with a barely suppressed smile gracing his face. He'd been looking forward to seeing her again. He'd refrained from texting her until he would be able to see her for his fitting, even though every fiber of his being wanted to reach out to her.

Adjusting the acoustic guitar strapped to his back, he entered the shop where he was immediately comforted by the warm ambiance of the bakery. Sabine was behind the counter, as always. When she looked up at the bell ringing and saw him, she greeted him with a smile as sweet at the macaroons she was boxing up for a customer.

"Luka! Welcome back, sweetie. We haven't seen you in a couple of days and I was starting to worry about you."

He grinned down at the tiny Asian woman. Despite his true motive for frequenting the bakery in the past, he honestly had missed the gentle woman. However, he'd never admit to her that he'd actually been coming to the bakery so often in an attempt to track down her daughter. He didn't think that admission would go over so well. Especially since he'd heard about how fiercely protective Tom DuPain was of his only daughter.

"I'm sorry I haven't been by lately. Work has been keeping me busy, unfortunately." He walked up to the counter. "But now I've got some time to spare, so I came to visit."

She laughed. "Don't bother trying to suck up to me. I know you're here to see Marinette. She told me you'd found one of her designs and wanted her to make it for you."

His eyebrows raised. Guess he was busted. "She told you about that, huh?"

She nodded. "Yes, she did, dear. I'm just surprised that you were able to find her based only on one of her drawings."

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I actually have you to thank. I made the connection when I delivered that fabric to her room. I saw her designs on the wall and I recognized her signature."

"Ah," she said knowingly. "So that's why you became such a regular customer." Her usually cheerful face fell into a disappointed frown. "And here I thought you were coming for my pastries."

Luka raised his hands in surrender. "I did come for your pastries. Honestly. They're the best in the city! I would have come even if Marinette wasn't here." He spoke quickly, hoping to avoid offending the petite woman.

Taking pity on the poor boy, she started to laugh. "Relax, sweetie. I know." She nodded her head toward the stairs that led to their apartment. "Head on up. She's expecting you."

Relieved that Mrs. Cheng didn't hold his true motive for all his visits to the bakery against him, he climbed up the multiple staircases to Marinette's space.

Upon opening her trap door, he could see that she was definitely not expecting his arrival.

Hunched over her desk, she looked almost possessed by whatever it was she was working on in her notebook. Her hair is pulled back in a messy bun and there's a spare pencil tucked behind her ear. There's another pencil between her clenched teeth as her almost crazed eyes scanned the page. With a growl, she grabbed a white eraser and began to furiously attack the paper with it. With a frustrated growl, she tossed the eraser aside, she used the pencil between her teeth to continue working.

It was obvious to Luka that she hadn't heard the thump of the trap door opening, so rather than interrupt her work, he simply walked over to her pink chaise lounge and made himself comfortable. She was so interesting to watch when she was focused on a task. He could see her energy barely contained in her movements. Her hand jerked and swept across the paper.

Inspired by the movements her pencil made as she created her own form of beauty, he brought his guitar around and began to quietly play. Tempo fast, notes discordant, he created a melody to accompany the frantic dance of her hand.

Minutes pass before Marinette registered the music playing at the edge of her senses. Glancing toward the source, she was shocked to see Luka sitting with his legs folded under him to support the guitar he was playing.

With a squeak, she began to apologize. "I'm so sorry, I didn't hear you come in."

He didn't even look at her as he continued to play, transitioning from her frantic song, to a slower melody, its gentle chords slowing her heartbeat and easing her tension. "It's okay. I understand what it is to be taken over by inspiration. To have the world around you fall away and nothing else exists but what you're creating."

Her shoulders relaxed. Of course, he would get it. Feeling much more relaxed and less embarrassed at being caught in the midst of a designing storm, she released the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. "Thanks for your understanding. Just give me a minute to get this cleaned up and we can get started getting your measurements."

She quickly gathered the papers scattered around her desk and stuffed them haphazardly in a folder.

"There's no rush." He looked up at her then, eyes piercing through his hair. "I like watching you work. The way your hand flies over the page as your drawing, it's almost like a dance." He smiled softly at her blank expression. "I was just providing some music for you to dance to."

Marinette's mind went blank as she stared dumbly at the musician.

"Yes., well, yeah…" She didn't know what to say to that. What do you say to something like that? How do you respond to something so beautiful? "Let's get started, shall we?"

Kissing any chance of this not being an embarrassing experience for both of them goodbye, she gestured to the stool in the middle of the room for him to climb on so she could take his measurements.

'Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?' she asked herself once more.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*Sorry for the delay. I wasn't certain on where I wanted the story to go from here, but I finally figured it out. My original plan was to have 29 chapters to this story, to go along with the 29 days of Lukanette February prompts on tumblr. Now, I'm not sure if I want to drag it out for that long. But I DO know that there will be at least a few more chapters to this. There's a lot of things I need to resolve before I can say "and they lived happily ever after" or whatever._

_As always, special thanks to __**Rennie3638, Fanfictions4ever, Lavendor Queen, **__and __**XandraRis**__ for your reviews. Your support and praise is always appreciated._

_If you like what you've read, favorite or follow this story to let me know that you like it. I'll continue to try to post at least every other day for your reading pleasure._

_Until next time, my lovelies XOXO*_


	14. Chapter 14 - Valentine's Day

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 14 - Valentine's Day**

A week had passed since Marinette's show at Fashion Week – and her coffee with Luka. Seriously, the Earth must have been somehow knocked off its axis or something. There was no way that things were going this well for her. There had to be a catch somewhere. However, she wasn't going to stress too much about it and just enjoy the ride until the other shoe drops.

Now that Fashion Week was over and she was making excellent progress on Luka's outfit, she has some spare time to spend at the bakery helping her parents. They both had been working so hard so she could work on her designs without worrying about helping them, so it was only fair for her to lend a hand while she had the spare time.

It was because she'd been covering the counter at the baker that she'd also realized a new pattern emerging in her daily routine: Luka would, without fail, stop in at some point during the day to grab something to eat and strike up conversation with her.

Most days, he'd grab something to go while on his break between deliveries. When he had time, though, he'd made it a point to grab a seat in the dining area and play his guitar for a while after he was finished eating. His behavior confused Marinette to no end. Surely, he had better things to do than just hang out at the bakery and play his music there.

Maybe he came every day to check and see how she was doing on the outfit she had designed – unknowingly at the time – for him. Yeah, that made sense. That had to be why the obviously busy young man came in and talked to her every day. After all, he said so himself, it was her design that inspired him, not _her_.

If she were completely honest with herself, she enjoyed having him there in the bakery, spending time with her. His music added to the relaxing atmosphere of the shop and his looks provided a very appealing distraction. But she wasn't sure how to act around the laid-back guitarist and at times she could feel herself lapsing back into the blubbering mess she'd used to become around Adrien when she was younger. Luka didn't make her nervous per se, but she was always left feeling off balance and awkward after their interactions.

With an irritated sigh, she rested her elbow on the counter and laid her head in her palm. There was something about the musician that she really liked, but she had such a hard time talking to him. Even when she fell into a stuttering mess or humiliated herself by shoving her foot in her mouth by saying something stupid, he never looked at her funny or made her feel embarrassed. He'd just continue on with their conversation with kind eyes a smile tugging at his lips. He was just so freaking _nice_!

She raised her gaze to the door when she heard the bell above it ring, announcing a new customer. 'Speak of the devil,' she thought, a bright smile erupting on her face.

She greeted him as he walked over to the display case and gazed at the pastries inside. "What can I get for you today, Luka? Do you have to run, or are you staying today?"

He gently closed his fist on the strap of his guitar. "I've got time today, so I'd like to hang out here," he said. "If that's okay."

She gestured to the empty shop. "You're in luck today," she giggled. "You've got the whole place to yourself."

He walked over to the counter and rested his hip against it. "Just the two of us, huh? I like the sound of that," he murmured, looking at her with hooded eyes.

Marinette's face felt like it was on fire, she was blushing so hard. _THIS_ was why he threw her off balance so much. She just didn't know what to say to him when he talked to her like that.

From the back, she could hear her father loudly clear his throat, letting the pair in the front of the store know that the were not, in fact, alone.

Luka chuckled softly at her reaction to his teasing and placed his order for the lunch special, a slice of Tom's hot and flaky Quiche Lorraine. After calling out a greeting to the bakers back in the kitchen, he chose a seat and began to quietly play his guitar while he waited for Marinette to go into the back and grab his meal.

Setting his plate in front of him, she hesitated to just walk away without clarifying something. "Luka, you know you don't have to come here every day, right? I'll send you a text when I need you to come in for a fitting."

"I know," he said. He set his fork down on his plate and looked up to see her fidgeting nervously. "Right now, I'd rather be here with you that be anywhere else."

Marinette jumped when she heard a loud crash come from the back, followed by what sounded like a whispered argument between her parents. Oh god, could this be any more embarrassing? Of course her mom and dad would be eavesdropping on their entire conversation. 'Please, just kill me know," she thought to herself, cheeks burning once again.

She rounded on Luka, her eyes narrowed. "You can't say things like that to me!" Taking a breath to calm her temper, she ran her hand over her face. "Keep it up and my parents will think we're dating."

He snorted softly, as if this entire conversation was highly amusing to him. "Actually," he said, "that's why I'm here. I was wondering if I can take you out to dinner when you're done for the night."

Her jaw dropped. "…Why?"

"Um… What do you mean 'why'?" he asked, brows furrowed in confusion.

"Why would you want to take me out to dinner?" she explained. "You come in and see me every day already when you come here to eat."

"I know. I just want to spend more time with you, Marinette, at least more than the few minutes I can spare between deliveries." He smiled at her and she could feel her legs turn to goo.

His answer still left her confused. "Okay… But why?"

He sighed and turned in his chair to face her head on. He reached out and gently clasped her hand. "I'm not sure which part you're confused about." He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles as he looked up at her, standing there dumbfounded. "Are you really asking me why I want to spend more time with you? Don't you realize how amazing you are?" The expression on his face clearly said that it was impossible for her to not know how highly he thought of her. "You're a remarkable girl and I want to get to know you more."

Knees trembling, she excused herself and quickly walked into the back. As soon as she was out of his sight, she bunched up her apron, brought her fists to her mouth, and squealed. Loudly. And groaned when she heard his laugh echo from where he sat out of sight. Apparently, her apron hadn't done much to muffle the sound of her scream.

She'd been so worried about keeping her outburst in check that she hadn't noticed her parents staring at her with concern. Sabine held Tom's arm with both of hers, her small frame surprisingly effective in holding the overprotective father at bay.

"Are you okay, sweetie," her mother asked, patting her husband's arm soothingly.

Marinette could only nod her head, her face still hidden in her apron.

"Then go back out there and give that sweet boy and answer." She shooed her daughter toward the doorway.

She gasped as she whipped her head up to stare at her mom in shock. 'Oh my god, I just ran out of there after Luka asked me out without saying a word! Can I be any more of an idiot?!' she berated herself as she hastily smoothed out her apron and dashed back out to the front.

He watched her walk toward him with an unmistakably amused expression on his face, making her groan internally. When she apologized for running off, he waved it off like it was nothing.

"I'm sorry Luka, but I can't go out with you. Not tonight," she said.

"Oh, okay. Don't worry about it." He smiled sadly up at her before returning his attention to his neglected food. "I understand."

Her eyes widened. He sounded so disappointed, but he was still trying to brush it off like it didn't bother him. "Oh my god, no! It's not like that!" He looked back up at her, his face questioning. "I just already have plans tonight. Not that I don't want to go out with you, because I do. I'd love to go out with you-" she cut herself off with a gasp, slapping her hands over her face. "Ohmygod! Did I just say that out loud?" She spread her fingers so she could peer at him from behind her hands.

His laughter surprised her enough to get her to uncover her face, making her realize how beautiful his smile was when he actually let it bloom over his whole face.

Giggling softly, she tucked her hair back behind her ears and said, "I don't have any plans tomorrow, if that's okay…"

"Hmm…" he smiled mischievously. "I don't know. I've got soooo much going on, but I guess I can squeeze you in." She giggled at his playful response. "I'll pick you up at seven?"

She nodded in agreement and watched as he packed up his guitar, slung it over his shoulder and walked out of the bakery with one final wave of goodbye.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

The rest of Marinette's afternoon was spent in a daze. So much so that she didn't even realize when her best friend walked through the front door and right up to the counter.

"Marinette? Hey, girl, you listening? Helloooo? Earth to Marinette?" After fruitlessly trying to get her friend's attention, Alya lost her patience.

"YO, MARINETTE!" Alya yelled as she slapped her hand on the counter, finally getting Marinette's attention. "What is _wrong_ with you today? You're not usually this much of a space case."

She glanced over her shoulder toward where she had a feeling her parents were shamelessly listening in. She grabbed her hand and took off toward her room, dragging her protesting friend behind her. This was the kind of discussion that needed to be had behind closed – and preferably soundproofed – doors.

The moment Marinette's trap door slammed shut behind them, Alya yanked her hand out of her friend's iron grip and confronter her about her insane behavior. "Marinette, what the hell? Mind explaining what is so important that you almost rip my arm off dragging me up here?" She sat down on the couch, rubbing her sore shoulder absently as she watched the other girl pace circles around her room.

"Alya," she mumbled, her eyes trained on her shoes as she wore a hole in the floor, "I think I have a date tomorrow."

She sat up in surprise, her aching shoulder momentarily forgotten. "Hold up," she said, raising a hand to stop her friend. "What do you mean you 'think' you have a date? You either do or you don't. Which is it?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "Luka stopped by again earlier today for lunch and heaskedmeifiwantedtogoouttodinnerwithhimbecausehewantstogettoknowmeandthat-"

"Girl, slow down and take a breath!" She shook her head at her silly friend. Typical Marinette, getting all worked up over something like this. If past experiences were anything to go by, she's gonna be here all night talking her BFF down from her manic state. "Start from the beginning."

After replaying her earlier conversation in the bakery with Luka to her, she looked at Alya, apprehensively waiting for her thoughts on the matter.

"Honey," she teased, "he's got it bad for you."

"What?" That wasn't what she'd been expecting. "No… It's not like that…We're just friends… Right?"

"Ugh." She couldn't believe that her friend was so clueless about matters of the heart that she couldn't recognize when a guy was obviously interested in her. She pitied Marinette because her past non-relationship with Adrien had blinded her to what a healthy romantic relationship really looked like. Luckily, it looked like this Luka guy was more than willing to show her the way. "Seriously, girl? He's spouting stuff some Hallmark Valentine's Day card worthy sweetness at you and you think he wants to be 'friends' with you?" She shook her head in frustration. "It's plain as day that he's into you. Can't you see that? Not even you can be that oblivious."

Her opinion on the matter did nothing to calm her friend down as she continued to spout denial after denial. 'Oh well, if she's gonna freak out this much already, there's nothing I can say that will make it worse,' she thought with a smirk.

"So, Marinette," she began impishly, "what are you gonna wear?"

She laughed as Marinette descended into a despondent mess, babbling and groaning that she had nothing to wear and whatamIgoingtodo!? It was just too easy to mess with her.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*Hey all, Miss Malice here with another chapter. I would have had this to you earlier, but the demo for the Final Fanstasy 7 Remake dropped the other day and I played that a few times. I seriously can't wait until it's released!_

_Once again, a heartfelt thank you to my ever faithful reviewers, __**Rennie3628, XandraRis**__, and__** Fanfictions4ever**__. Your feedback and support is always appreciated._

_I plan on getting a new chapter up on Thursday, barring anything getting in the way of that. Next time, we'll see their date, but it's not going to go smoothly because __**someone**__ likes to interfere in Marinette's life. Who will it be? Let me know who you think is gonna try to get between our dorks. It might not be who you think ;)_

_Until next time, My Lovelies XOXO*_


	15. Chapter 15 - Satisfied

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 15 - Satisfied**

If Marinette had been a nervous wreck before her Fashion Week show, that was nothing compared to her instability at that moment. As a matter of fact, anyone watching the poor girl would have assumed that she'd become unhinged.

Pacing around her room, she pointedly avoided looking in the mirror for the thousandth time that evening.

After much agony, she'd finally decided on a relatively casual appearance for her and Luka's first date. Surely he wouldn't choose to do something _too_ extravagant for their first official date. Was this their first date, or did their meeting at the café last week count as their first date? Was that even a date? She didn't know…

Spiraling ever further into a tizzy, she let out a shrill scream when her mother popped her head into her room and announced that Luka had arrived to pick her up.

Sparing a cursory glance at her phone, she realized that he was early. She needed the extra five minutes to settle her nerves. It just wouldn't do to have him see how much this simple date was affecting her.

Releasing a sigh in resignation, she allowed herself one final glance in the mirror, just to check and make sure that nothing had fallen to disarray in her nervous breakdown.

Her hair was still elegantly pulled away from her face and gently curled to fall in waves to just below her shoulders. None of her lightly applied make up had smeared from screaming into a pillow earlier. Thankfully, the tunic length red sweater was knitted in a soft, fluffy cashmere and didn't indicate that she had been mercilessly bunching up the hem in her fists for the batter part of an hour. Vertical striped leggings completed her outfit and when she finally reclaimed what little composure she had left, she stepped into a pair of black velvet ankle boots.

With that, she decided that she was ready as she ever would be. Snagging her purse on the way, she made her way down her stairs – and missed one of the last steps, resulting in her clumsily sliding down the stairs the rest of the way down.

Stunned from the fall, she could only sit at the bottom of the staircase with her legs sprawled out around her. Her head swiveled to the side when she heard a faint snickering. She looked on in horror as her parents both were attempting to suppress their laughter, but their failure was audible.

To make matters worse, Luka was standing with them, a look of horror on his face.

"Oh my god, Marinette, are you alright?" He rushed over to help her, grasping her arm firmly and pulling her to her feet.

She brushed herself off and adjusted her sweater where it had bunched up around her waist. Thank goodness she'd decided against wearing a dress. She would have had to change her name and move out of the country if she would have fallen down the stairs in front of Luka in a _dress_!

She shook her head to get rid of that line of thinking right away. She still had to salvage this situation, not get hung up on something that hadn't even happened.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she assured him.

He held out his arm for her to take, which she did so gladly. They turned toward her parents and bid them goodnight, Luka promising her safe return later that evening.

From the looks on their faces, Luka's concern for her safety was the right course of action to gain their approval.

Upon exiting the bakery, Luka turned to Marinette and asked, "Would it be okay with you if we took the metro? There's a place I'd like to take you to and it's a kind of far to walk or for me to ride my bike to."

She looked at him with her eyebrow raised. "Oh? And where is this place?"

"There's a crêperie a few blocks away from where the Liberty is moored that I think you might enjoy."

And with her approval, they headed toward the nearest metro station.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

"Luka," Marinette said enthusiastically around a mouthful of the _crêpe complète_ \- a savory buckwheat crêpe stuffed with ham, egg and cheese, "you were right."

He leaned back in his seat with a smile and waited for her to continue. "This place is amazing! I can't believe I've lived in this city for my entire life and I've never been here before."

She wasn't exaggerating. Not only was the food delicious, but the creperie Luka had chosen also boasted an extensive cider list, which they both had chosen from and enjoyed.

In addition, they had chosen to dine outside under the navy-blue awnings so they could enjoy the mild October night. Each of those factors resulted in an atmosphere of quiet comfort and did much to relax Marinette.

She and Luka had been thoroughly enjoying themselves, laughing and teasing each other, sharing bites of each other's food (and Marinette had to admit that his duck breast crêpe _was_ better than her ham), and generally reveling in each other's company.

As for her companion, he had done everything he could to put her at ease. When their date began, he made a conscious effort not to invade her personal space and toned down the flirting. At least, he did at first.

Now that she was more comfortable in his presence, the metaphorical gloves had come off. He was back to his outrageously charming self and Marinette was in a much better mind frame to handle him. Their playful banter resulted in one of the best times she'd had in a very, _very_ long time.

"Oh my! Is that you, Marinette?"

Upon hearing the sickeningly sweet voice coming from behind her, she snapped up in her chair, her previous feeling of ease instantly evaporated. She turned her head to look at the young woman approaching the table.

All in all, she hadn't changed much in the two years that had passed since Marinette had last seen her. Her dark auburn hair was pulled up in a ponytail instead of cascading down her back, but she still sported the blunt bangs that ended just above her almond-shaped green eyes.

Knowing that she was trapped and wouldn't be able to avoid the upcoming confrontation, Marinette greeted the other girl with a barely restrained grimace.

"Hello, Lila."

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

At Marinette's terse greeting, Luka realized that there was more to this meeting than he was aware of. It appeared these two ladies had history, and if Marinette's reaction to the other girl's interruption of their dinner was any indication, it was a bad history.

"I thought that was you," the green-eyed girl – Lila was what Marinette had called her – exclaimed. "How are you? It's been so long since I last saw you."

"Not nearly long enough," came Marinette's reply through clenched teeth.

There was something about the way that Lila talked that struck Luka as fake. He couldn't put his finger on it, but her whole demeaner toward Marinette just screamed hostility and set him on edge.

However, he didn't want to jump to conclusions and sat back and observed their conversation.

"The other day, I saw pictures from your little fashion show online," Lila said, her voice dripping with condescension. "I would have come to your show myself, but I was in Achu visiting Prince Ali again." She flicked a finger through her bangs and rolled her eyes. "I swear, the prince is always after me to spend more time with him. It's like we're practically engaged already!"

"Sure, Lila," came Marinette's impatient response.

Apparently, that hadn't been the response the other girl had been aiming for because her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "But enough about me! It's just so wonderful that you've finally gotten over your little crush on Adrien and were able to somehow convince a model of his caliber to agree to appear in your show." She smirked as Marinette's jaw clenched at the backhanded compliment. "The media coverage of his appearance must sure have gotten you a ton of attention. I guess that's how the business is, using every connection you've got to make sure you end up on top. Good for you."

Luka was stunned. Surely this vicious girl wasn't trying to say that Marinette was using her apparent friendship with Adrien Agreste to get her foot in the door of the fashion world. Anyone with eyes could see how talented she was.

He hazarded a glance at his date and sure enough, rage was radiating off her in almost visible waves. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that she had unconsciously gripped her table knife in her fist.

He reached over and place his hand over hers and gently pried to potential weapon out of her shaking hand. It wouldn't do to have his date get arrested for assaulting someone with a deadly weapon.

Apparently, his intervention had been enough to snap her out of her murderous rage and she took a breath to calm herself.

"For the record, Lila, I didn't use any of my so-called 'connections'. When Alya mentioned my upcoming show to Adrien, he _volunteered_ to model for me. I didn't have to ask him for any favors and to be honest, I'm offended that you'd try to say that I'd use my friendship with Adrien to further my own career. We've been friends for years, a fact that just kills you inside, and we always do whatever we can to help each other out."

Feeling proud for some reason at Marinette standing up for herself to this vile girl, Luka watched as the other girl drew herself back with a gasp and pressed her hand to her chest as if to ease an ache there.

"How could you think that?" she gasped. "I wasn't trying to say that at all! I was just complimenting you on how clever it was of you to use an already internationally well-known model in your show, knowing that it would guarantee you'd get more attention."

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Marinette shake her head, obviously out of patience with the girl.

"Lila, I know you well enough to know that your 'compliments' are never what they seem. You haven't changed since school and I feel sorry for you." She watched as Lila's eyes widened in surprise and she took a step back. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to my date."

At the reminder that the two girls were not alone, Lila's sharp eyes focused on Luka, where he was sitting across from Marinette with his hand still casually resting on her own. He could see the gears in her mind start to turn as she tried to figure out a way to come out of this altercation the victor.

"You're date?" she crooned, gazing roving appreciatively from the tips of Luka's carefully (for once) styled hair, over the black blazer he wore with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, to the tight blue jeans the did nothing to hide his muscular legs, to rest on the black boots he had chosen to wear that night. It was obvious she liked what she saw and Luka didn't appreciate being assessed like he was something for sale.

"Yes," Marinette said, getting her attention once more. "You're interrupting our date and we would appreciate it if you left."

Lila sneered at her. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were on a date. I thought he was just a friend or something. I didn't think that someone that looks like him would go on a date with someone like you." Her gaze flickered to Luka's once more, checking to see if he had picked up on her compliment toward him.

"To be frank," she continued, "I just can't believe that you'd go out with anyone other than Adrien, considering how absolutely _in love_ with him you were for years." She gave Marinette a quick nod of approval and went on to say, "Good for you. Finally getting over your creepy obsession with him must have been hard, but don't you think it's a little unfair to your 'date' here to use him for a rebound?"

Okay, enough was enough. Luka had heard enough and intervened on Marinette's behalf.

"I don't mind if she's using me," he said calmly, ignoring the way Marinette's head whipped around to stare at him in horror. "I'm just happy that a girl like Marinette agreed to go out with me tonight. With as beautiful and talented as she is, if Adrien couldn't see that, then his loss is definitely my gain."

Growing visibly frustrated that the seeds of doubt she'd tried to plant hadn't taken root, Lila hastily made an excuse and stormed off, leaving behind an amused Luka and a surprised Marinette.

Glancing back at his companion, Luka grew concerned when she continued to stare at the table, refusing to look at him.

"Are you ok?"

She took a shuddering breath before looking up at him, eyes swimming with unshed tears. "I am so sorry about that."

"What do you have to apologize for?" he asked, wiping at a stray tear that had finally spilled over. "She's the one who interrupted us. If anyone should be sorry, it's her."

She shook her head at him. "I'm sorry about the things you had to hear, about me, and about you."

"Marinette," he started, squeezing her hand again to reassure her, "it's easy for anyone with eyes to see that she's just jealous of you and was trying to stir up trouble."

Her shoulders sagged in relief that he didn't believe anything he had heard that night. But it made him wonder. "Has she always been like that?"

He laughed at Marinette's heartfelt groan. "Ugh, it was even worse when we were in school together. She's a compulsive liar and I was one of the few people who could see how fake she was. The fact that I couldn't be manipulated by her lies made me her enemy in her mind. She wasn't satisfied until she tried to completely ruin my life."

At Luka's shocked expression, she explained. "She'd plant stuff in my bag or locker and accuse me of stealing. She made up the most horrible rumors about my friends and then would tell them that she'd heard it from me. And once, she went so far as to pretend to fall down a flight of stairs at school and then timed it just right that when she called for help, it looked like I had pushed her down the stairs." She scrubbed her face with her hands, still upset at that particular injustice. "I almost got kicked out of school because of her lies."

Luka couldn't believe it. Of course, he believed every word that Marinette said, but he couldn't believe that anyone could dislike the kind-hearted girl to such an extreme.

When he told her as much, she laughed. "Well, you said it yourself. She was jealous of me. I was friends with Adrien in school and she wanted to be where I was so she could weasel her way into his life." She smiled smugly. "But he didn't fall for it either and he called her out on her bullshit.

"I don't know how he did it, but he said something to her that scared her enough to make up some ridiculous story about how she has some mysterious medical condition that makes it impossible for her to control what she says, or something like that. God," she said in disgust, "she reduced the principal to tears with her ridiculous lie. But after that day, she pretty much left me alone."

"That's a relief. You don't need someone so toxic in your life," Luka said comfortingly.

"I know," she agreed. "I appreciate whatever it was that Adrien did to get her to leave me alone, but it wasn't enough to stop her lying and most of my friends still thought she was the greatest thing in the world."

With a final shrug of her shoulders, she declared, "That's it, I've wasted enough of our time together on her."

So they returned to their meals and changed the subject, continuing to enjoy what time they had left together.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

If she were to be completely honest with herself, Marinette was shocked at how easy it was for her to talk to Luka. After she'd gotten over her initial bundle of nerves, she found it was completely natural for her to interact with him, Granted, he'd made it a point to make her comfortable, so that definitely helped. In fact, if he hadn't gone out of his way to casually touch her throughout the night, she would have thought that they'd just been hanging out together, grabbing a bite to eat between friends.

But it was in those small, imperceptible touches that he'd declared his intent. Whether it was lightly stroking the back of her hand with a calloused fingertip, or gently grasping her shoulders to steer her around a puddle on the sidewalk, or firmly placing his hand on the small of her back to steady her when the metro had jerked, it was those small intimacies that indicated to her that he was interested in more than a friendship or a professional relationship with her.

Even now, walking the few blocks from the metro station to her house, he had subtly place himself between her and the street, ever mindful of their surroundings and how they could affect her.

She shivered when a sudden gust of wind cut through what little protection her sweater gave her from the chill October night. Without hesitation, Luka slid off his blazer and draped it over her shoulders, letting his hands linger before caressing down her back to return to his side. She shivered again, but this time it had nothing to do with the cold.

She snuggled into his jacket, enveloped by his warmth and the gentle scent that was all Luka: warm, sweet, and carrying the faint snap of an ocean breeze.

She hummed her appreciation as she snuggled the jacket more firmly around her, relishing in the feeling of being surrounded by Luka's essence while ignore the traitorous whisper in the back of her head that being held in his arms would be a much better alternative to some flimsy jacket.

Far too quickly for both of their liking, they arrived back at the bakery. Marinette glanced up at Luka, his face in shadows from the streetlight. She smiled at him and took off his jacket, returning it with a mumbled "Thanks".

Seconds pass in silence as neither wanted to say goodbye, but they both knew that the evening had to end sometime. Finally, Marinette crumbled under the awkward silence and says goodbye.

"I had a great time. Thank you for taking me out tonight, Luka." She tilted her head back to get a better look at his face through the shadows.

With a playful chuckle, he lifted his hand and ran it down her hair, fingers threading through some of her curls to rest on the back of her neck. Her breath seized in her chest as he leaned closer to her face.

Her stomach exploded with butterflies as his breath fanned over her face.

Her eyes shoot wide when she feels his soft lips press against her forehead. Her skin tickled when she felt his lips curl into a smile against her as she continued to just stand there like a deer caught in headlights.

She was still frozen in shock when he leaned back and looked at her. Since it was obvious that all brain activity had ceased, Luka gently turned her toward the door and opened it for her, gently pushing her inside.

He waited patiently until he finally heard the telltale click of the lock that ensure that she was home safely before he turned and headed home, eager to pick up his guitar and put the feelings he was feeling into song.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*Okay, I know that it's not technically Thursday anymore, but it's close enough for me (it's currently 1:00am here, so meh). But I think that the fact that this is the longest chapter so far makes up for me being an hour late, don't you?_

_I'm pleased that NOBODY guessed right as to who would be dropping in on their date. There were guesses that Adrien would crash, or Chloe, or Alya would show up to do some meddling, but nobody thought it would be Lila! Mwahaha I tricked you! Honestly, Chloe is just too easy to make into a villain and I'd like to think that she's off terrorizing small children somewhere in New York with her mom. _

_As always, I'd like to give a shout out to the incredible people who took the time to review this for me. I get so excited when I see that I have a new review. It's like opening up a present. So thank you to __**CaptainMalcolmReynolds, Rennie3628, XandraRis, Fanfictions4ever, **__and __**beardancing4**__. Your continued support means more than you'll ever know._

_Until next time, My lovelies XOXO*_


	16. Chapter 16 - Drums

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 16 - Drums**

The night after her date with Luka, Marinette turned on her game console to meet up with her friends online. She hadn't been able to get ahold of Alya yet to tell her about her date because the reporter had been working on a story, so she had been forced to wait until their standing Friday night gaming night to give her best friend the details.

When she finally loaded in, she was pleased to see that Rena Rouge was already logged on.

"It's about time, girl," Rena reprimanded. "Now, spill! Leave nothing out!"

She started her tale with how she had made her graceful entrance: by falling down the stairs. Rena howled with laughter at how true to form that was for her and asked how Luka had responded to her clumsiness. Her friend cooed at how sweet he'd been to check to make sure she wasn't hurt.

As she continued to give a play by play of the events of the previous night, she trailed off when a notification popped up onscreen: **CHAT NOIR is online.**

It felt weird to talk about her date with Adrien listening. It wasn't like she still had romantic feelings for her friend, but it still just didn't feel right.

"C'mon, girl, don't clam up on me now! What happened next? Where did he take you?"

"What are you talking about?" Chat Noir asked, curious about what the girls had been talking about that had made Ladybug stop talking as soon as he'd come online.

"Ladybug was telling me about her date!" Rena gushed.

"Her _what_?" he yelled.

Marinette winced. "Easy there, kitty. Keep the volume down please. I'd like to keep my hearing if you don't mind."

As he sullenly mumbled an apology, another notification popped up onscreen. Her heart skipped a beat before she read what it read. **CARAPACE is online. **Oh, it's just Nino.

"Hey guys, what's goin' on?"

Rena chuckled at her boyfriend's cheerful greeting. "Oh, nothing much. Ladybug was just telling us all about her hot date."

He chortled at that information. "Ooooh," he teased. "Do tell."

'God, this is embarrassing,' she thought. "Okay, fine. Just be quiet and let me talk."

As she told the others the events of her date, Ryuuko and Pegasus popped up online as well, eagerly joining the conversation, much to Marinette's chagrin.

Chat Noir's silence ended when she began describing her confrontation with Lila. He began spitting indignantly at the nonsense the liar had spewed. She giggled when he vowed to track her down and make her regret saying such offensive things to her. She spent the next few minutes talking her feline friend down from his rage until she could continue with her story.

When she finally finished, she had to move her headset away from her ear as Rena's piercing squeal made her ears ring.

"So, have you talked to him today?" Rena asked, excited.

"No, he must have been busy because he didn't stop by the bakery at all today."

The fact that he hadn't shown up for the first time in a week made Marinette's stomach knot uncomfortably. Had he decided that he didn't want to go out with her again and was avoiding her? Did something happen to him and now he was in the hospital, hurt? Her overactive imagination was not her friend in situations like these.

"Statistics say that if he doesn't call you after the first 24 hours of your first date, there is only a miniscule 12% chance that he will ask you out again." Her eyes narrowed as Pegasus's extremely unhelpful addition did little to make her feel better about the whole situation.

"Not helpful, Pegasus," Rena said.

"Ladybug, you should be the one to make the first move and contact him instead. Show him that you are a strong, confident woman that will not be trifled with." Ryuuko could definitely take the girl-power idea a bit far, but she had a point. There was no reason why she should

"I have to text him tomorrow about something anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter."

"Yo, Chat, you're being suspiciously quiet about this whole thing. Don't you have any advice for Ladybug?" Carapace's voice just dripped with sarcasm. "You know, as a _friend_?"

"I just think that it's kind of a jerk move to not call her after taking her out," he growled. "If he was really into her, he would have at least texted her to say that he had a great time or something."

Marinette's insecurities reared their ugly heads once more; his reasoning echoed her own doubts. "You think so, Chat?"

"Yeah," he said. "You're worth putting in the effort, don't you think?"

"Nah, bro." Carapace chimed in. "Maybe he's just got something going on today and hasn't had the time. I'm sure he'll call or text you as soon as he's got a minute."

Nino's reassurance silenced the insidious voices in Marinette's mind. "Thanks, Carapace. That makes me feel better."

They continued to play when Marinette noticed that it was almost 9:00pm.

"Hey, has anyone heard from Viperion? It's not like him to be so late on a raid night."

Carapace chuckled. "Yeah, he texted me earlier. He got called in for a gig and he'll be on later."

Marinette was surprised. She'd figured out that Viperion was a musician, but she didn't know that he was talented enough to be performing professionally. She wondered if she'd heard his music before and didn't know it.

"Oh, is that how you met Viperion?" Chat asked. "You never actually told us how you met him."

While Carapace explained to the others how he'd met Viperion while he was DJ-ing at a party for a Roth Records party, the topic of their discussion signed on.

"Well, speak of the devil," Carapace cheerfully greeted. "How was the show, bro?"

Marinette smiled as she listened to Viperion talk about his performance. She was curious about what he played, but she did her best to keep her curiosity at bay.

"Oh," Carapace interrupted, "how was your date last night?"

Marinette nearly dropped her controller. Wait, what? Viperion went on a date last night? Who goes out on a date on a Thursday night? Well, she's just gone on one yesterday, but that's beside the point.

"It was great." His voice was soft with emotion. "I took her to this place I'd been wanting to check out for a while. And she's so easy to talk to, once she got past her nerves."

As he continued to describe his evening out with his "mystery girl", Marinette couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Here she was, pining over some guy who couldn't be bothered to even text her after their own date, and Viperion was gushing about how "amazing" and "wonderful" his date had been. It just wasn't fair.

Not noticing how quiet that Ladybug had become, the others continued to grill Viperion for details.

Carapace, on the other hand, was snickering hysterically under his breath, eventually getting his girlfriend's attention. "Babe, what the hell? Care to share what you seem to find so funny?"

Swallowing his laughter, he tried to avoid the subject, but he found himself caught in his girlfriend's wrath. "We're gonna have a conversation about this later," she promised him.

Not wanting to hear any more about Viperion's date, Ladybug changed the subject and they continued to play together for the next few hours, finally distracting Marinette from her own wallowing.

After she'd logged off and shut down her console, she looked at her phone for the first time in hours. She was surprised to see her notification light blinking.

It was from Luka!

Luka: Hey, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to you before now. I had a great time last night and wanted to know if you'd be interested in hanging out again sometime soon.

Her heartbeat drummed in her ears. How could she have not heard her phone chime? Upon further investigation, she noticed the symbol in her notification bar that indicated that she'd put her phone on "Do not disturb" mode while she had been playing.

Oh man, hopefully her lack of response didn't make Luka think she wasn't interested in hanging out with him again. She really liked spending time with the musician. Once she got out of her own head, he was easy to talk to and there was something about him that made her creative juices start flowing.

As a matter of fact, her work on "his" outfit had gone surprisingly well. Usually, she'd run into a few snags when working on a project, but thus far, it'd been smooth sailing, which gave her a perfect excuse to spend time with him.

Glancing at the time, she wondered if it was too late to text him back. But she didn't want him to think that she was ignoring him or something. Gathering her courage, she decided to go for it. If nothing else, he'd get it in the morning when he woke up.

Marinette: Sorry, just got your text. I'd like that. BTW, if you can make time, your outfit is almost done. Just needs fitting. Let me know when works for you.

She put her phone down and started getting ready for bed. When she heard her phone vibrate, she lunged across the room to grab it, nearly tripping over her discarded clothes in her haste.

Luka: np. I've got time tomorrow if that works for you.

With a giddy little dance, she texted back that she'd see him tomorrow then and went to bed, completely forgetting her hurt feelings from earlier.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*First off, I'd like to thank everyone for their patience. I promise, I'm not abandoning this story. I've just been dealing with family drama and then I got sick, which is super convenient right now considering the Corona Virus pandemonium. Luckily, schools and such have been cancelled for the next two weeks where I am right now, and when my daughter doesn't go to school, I don't go to work, which is awesome for my job to do for me. So I'm hoping to get some serious writing done in the next few days, since all I'll be doing is lazing around my house, sucking down tea and feeling sorry for myself hahaha_

_As always, Thank you so much for my awesome reviewers: __**Fanfictions4ever, XandraRis, beardancing4, Rennie3628, **__you guys are amazing and I'm forever grateful for your continued support._

_I know this is a short chapter, but Next chapter I hope to have a lot more content and a few twists. (and please forgive any grammar or plot mistakes. I'm writing in a haze of Robitussin and herbal tea haha)_

_Until next time, my lovelies XOXO*_


	17. Chapter 17 - Riff

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 17 - Riff**

Marinette didn't have to wait for long on Saturday for Luka to show up. Apparently, he was just as excited to see her as she was to see him. In fact, she had barely gotten dressed for the day before she heard her mom call up, informing her that she had a visitor.

In a way, she was glad for his unexpected arrival. It left her very little time to work herself up into a panic at seeing him once again. She still wasn't quite sure where she stood with the musician and their date had done very little to clarify the situation. All she knew at the moment was that she had a job to do, and by god, she was going do it.

Upon hearing his footsteps on the stairs to her room, she ran her hand over her hair one last time and waited for his arrival. When his head popped up through her trap door, a grin found its way onto her face without her knowledge when she spotted his ever-present guitar strapped onto his back.

"Hi, Luka," she greeted. "I'm glad you could make it on such short notice. I know how much this means to you, so I wanted you to see the finished product as soon as possible."

She fidgeted nervously in front of the dress form that she had covered with a white sheet. She knew that she was prolonging his anticipation, but she wanted to see the look on his face when he finally saw the creation that he had found himself so focused on. It was a point of pride for Marinette, and she was nothing if not dramatic.

As for Luka, he could hardly contain his excitement, but his face betrayed none of the eagerness he felt. He knew that under that sheet was the outfit that had started his obsession, the inspiration for the song that still played – unfinished – in his mind. Perhaps today would finally be the day that he learned how the melody concluded.

With his eyes riveted on the sheet behind her, he barely heard her ask if he was ready. Slowly, unblinking, he nodded his head.

With a flourish, she ripped the sheet off the form and revealed her creation.

Luka shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out. It was everything he had hoped for and more. For a moment, his mind went silent. All he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat as he stared at what Marinette had made for him with her own two hands.

She watched him stand there and stare at her design for a few moments before she began to worry. Had she messed something up? Was something not right? As his silence stretched out, her concern grew.

"Luka? Are you-"

"You're amazing." He interrupted her with a breathy whisper.

Ok, now she was confused. "What?"

He ripped his gaze away from the dress form and stared intently at her. "You're amazing, Marinette. You've taken something that you'd only imagined on paper and breathed life into it. You've managed to make a physical manifestation of your creativity and I'm blown away by your talent." He carefully slipped his guitar case off his back and set it against her polka-dotted chaise lounge, then he slowly approached her to fully inspect her design. He couldn't wait to put it on!

"I'm actually surprised at how quickly this went together," she admitted. When he shifted his focus from the clothes to her face, she felt her face start to flush at the intensity of his gaze.

"Why is that?"

"Usually, I second guess my design choices when it comes time to put it together, but when I was working on this for you, it just went right together. Something this complicated tends to take me a few tries to get it perfect, but this time, everything just fell right into place." She smiled at him and ran a hand down the supple leather of the jacket. "It felt like it was meant to be made for you and couldn't wait to be finished." She giggled a little at her own silliness, but then swallowed thickly at the expression on his face.

"Maybe because it _was_ meant for me," he mused.

The atmosphere between them was becoming a little too heavy for Marinette's comfort, so she decided to change the subject. "Well, all I need is to do a final fitting and then it's done. Do you want to put it on for me so we can get it finished?"

There was nothing Luka wanted more than to put that outfit on, but he held himself in check. He wasn't used to feeling so strongly about things outside of music, but there was just something about this design, this outfit, this girl that made him feel with such intensity. He needed to take a step back before he scared the poor girl, something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

After she carefully removed the garments from the form, she handed them to Luka and pointed to a screen in the corner of her room. "You can get changed over there, if you don't mind."

While he changed his clothes, it took all of Marinette's will power to not peek at the screen. She pressed her hands to her warm cheeks as she listened to the rustle of cloth against skin as he took his clothes off. To distract herself, she walked away to check her phone.

Not surprisingly, there was a message from Alya.

Alya: Hey gurl! Let me know how it goes with Mr. hottie!

Marinette: He's getting naked in my room rn! Omg!

Alya: Dang Mari, workin fast aren't ya?

Marinette: … it's not like that! He's doing a fitting! Get your mind out of the gutter!

Alya: well he's definitely already fit ?

Marinette: ALYA! Not helping!

With an irritated huff, she shoved her phone into her back pocket and went to go check on Luka.

And stopped in her tracks when he came out from behind the screen.

The white tee that she had screen printed with a stylized snake was shredded at the bottom, giving her glimpses of his toned stomach. The leather jacket stretched comfortably across his broad shoulders and the sleeves hit perfectly at his wrists. The ripped black skinny jeans fit his muscular legs like a second skin, proving that Alya had been absolutely correct: he was FIT.

Seeing her jaw drop made Luka chuckle self-consciously. Hearing his amusement seemed to snap her out of her daze and she shook her head to clear her mind from the inappropriate thoughts that had begun circling. "So how does it fit? Anything too tight or too loose?"

"No, it's perfect." He ran his hand down the teal plaid lapel of the jacket before doing a flirty twirl. "How do I look?"

"Hot." Marinette's eyes widened and she slapped a hand over her mouth before she could vomit anything else even more embarrassing.

Luka grinned at her unintentional confession. "Do you have a mirror? It's not very often that I get to see myself looking 'hot'."

With a groan, she gestured to the full length mirror standing against the wall and then continued to cover her face in shame.

When Luka saw his reflection, he was shocked at the difference that clothes could make. He looked like something straight off of an album cover. As he turned an looked at himself, the music came crashing back into his brain.

He stumbled across the room in his haste to get to his guitar.

"Wha-" Marinette lowered her hands and watched as Luka frantically unzipped his guitar case and sat down with the instrument in his lap. "Are you al-"

"Shh." He felt bad hushing her, but he needed to get the music out before he forgot it. His fingers flew over the strings as the melody that had begun months ago when he first met her came to life.

Marinette was stunned. She'd heard him play his music many times before in the bakery, but never like this. This was like his soul was being laid bare for her to hear. She'd never heard anything so beautiful in her entire life. She never wanted it to end.

It was obvious to her that he was no longer aware of her presence in the room and she stayed rooted where she stood. She was afraid that any distraction would cause him to falter and stop his song.

When he finished his song, he opened his eyes to see Marinette wipe at her cheeks. His song had moved her to tears.

A little embarrassed at his behavior, he set his guitar aside and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry about shushing you. I had to get that out of my system."

She watched as he tried to come down from his musical high. "Was that _the_ song? The one I inspired in you?"

"Yeah." He zipped his guitar back in its case and avoided looking at her. "I told you that you'd be the first person to hear it, after all."

"Wow, Luka," she breathed. "You're the amazing one here. I can't believe you just played that. It's like I could hear the sound of your soul or something. It was beautiful."

He glanced up at saw the admiration shining on her face. "I just played what you make me feel. That's all."

Her jaw dropped. She didn't know what to say to that. If what she just heard was how she made him feel, then that was the most beautiful confession of love she'd ever heard of.

"Urk-" She choked on her words. She had no clue how to respond to him, but she felt like she had to say _something_.

"Marinette," Luka caught her attention, "you don't have to say anything. I'm not putting any pressure on you. I feel what I feel and I don't expect anything from you in return. If you just want to hang out and be friends, that's fine with me. I just like being around you and I like the way I feel when I'm with you." He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. "But if you can see me in that way," he slid his hand down her arm and laced his fingers with hers, "I think we'd make something beautiful together."

Well, at least now she knew where she stood with him. But Marinette wasn't sure if she was ready to be with him like that. She wanted to just focus on her career, but after his heartfelt confession, she didn't want to disappoint him either.

He could see by the look on her face that she was conflicted and not sure what to say to him. "Hey, don't stress about it." He tried to reassure her. "I meant what I said. If you want to just be friends, I'm fine with that. I'm not trying to push you into anything you don't want to do. I'm responsible for the way I feel, not you."

And with a final squeeze to her fingers, he let go of her hand and walked behind the screen to change back into his own clothes.

She released a shuddering breath. 'Oh boy' she thought.

"By the way," came Luka's voice from behind the screen, "do you have plans for next Saturday?"

"Next Saturday? No, I don't think so. Why?"

He came out from behind the screen and handed her the clothes. "I was just wondering if you'd like to come to a show on Saturday. I'll be playing, but you can bring some friends if you want."

She looked up at him and clutched the clothes he'd handed her to her chest. "You want me to come see you perform?"

He smiled down at her. "I've seen what you can do." He gestured to the bundle in her arms. "I want you to see what I can do."

She nodded and smiled at him. "I'd like that."

He grabbed his guitar and slung it over his shoulder. "I'll text you the details. I'll see you soon, Marinette."

Watching as he walked toward the trap door, she called out to him before he left. "I'll let you know when I'm done with the final touches."

He turned to look at her before he descended the stairs. "I'll be waiting."

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Across the city, Alya Cesare had cornered her boyfriend and was interrogating him on his suspicious behavior.

"Okay, Nino. What's your deal?" she asked, her hands planted firmly on her hips as she stared down at him as he tried in vain to scoot away from her off the couch. "The last couple of times we've played with everyone, you've been acting strange, like you know something that we don't. So spill!"

"It's nothing, babe, really." He shifted his eyes away from his girlfriend's piercing glare. "Really, it's not my place to tell."

"Aha!" She'd caught him now. "So you do know _something."_

He cursed under his breath, knowing that there was no way for him to get out of this conversation now. His girlfriend was like a dog with a bone when she smelled secrets. He mentally apologized to Luka for throwing him under the bus.

"You know Luka?" he asked.

"Juleka's brother? Yeah, he's the one Marinette had a date with the other night. What about him?"

"He's actually been looking for Marinette for a long time."

Her head tilted as she narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. Just what was he trying to say? "What do you mean 'looking for her'?"

He sighed, and then relayed the story he'd heard from Luka about the first time he and Marinette had run into each other, and Luka's search for the mystery designer.

"If you knew that, then why am I just now hearing about this?" she demanded. They were talking about her best friend after all.

"It wasn't my place to say anything. He told me about Marinette not knowing that I knew who she was."

"I'm confused. How could he not know that you know Marinette? Everyone knows that you, me, Marinette, and Adrien are best friends."

"You've never actually met Luka before Marinette's fashion show, at least not IRL."

"What do you mean, 'not IRL'?" She was getting frustrated with her boyfriend's vague answers. "Do I know him elsewhere?"

"Yeah," he replied. "He's Viperion."

Her mouth gaped. "Are you telling me, that the boy that we've been playing online with for months, the guy that Marinette is low-key crushing on for weeks, the guy that was gushing about his date the other night with this amazing girl, that guys is LUKA?!"

He looked smug as his girlfriend paced around their living room and ranted. "Now you understand why I thought the whole thing is hilarious."

She stopped in her tracks and gaped at Nino, the pieces all falling into place. "Oh my god. Adrien was encouraging Luka to go out with Marinette! She was getting jealous of _herself_ when Luka was talking about their date! Oh man, that is priceless!"

They both began howling with laughter, in disbelief at the ridiculous situations their friend always finds herself in.

"You realize that she's going to just die when she realizes the truth." Alya sat next to Nino on their mustard yellow couch. "Should we tell her? End her suffering?"

They stared at each other for a moment before laughing again, agreeing that it was way too much fun to watch their friends torture themselves instead.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*I hope this chapter finds you all well in these trying times. I'm happy to say that I'm finally feeling better (Don't worry, I didn't have Coronoa Virus, just your every day, garden variety flu, horray!)_

_I'd like to thank everyone who reviews, follows, and favorites this story. I'm probably going to be wrapping this up in like, three or four chapters because I really want to work on my next story. If i can get ten people leave me some love in the form of reviews, I'll give you guys a sneak peek at the new story (there be mermaids!)_

_Until next time, my lovelies! Stay healthy XOXO*_


	18. Chapter 18 - Vocals

**Designing Your Melody: Chapter 18 - Vocals**

There were some situations that could only be put into perspective by venting to your best friend. Having a boy basically state his interest in you in a romantic capacity definitely qualified as one of those situations.

"Alya," Marinette whined, looking at her best friend sitting on her couch. "What do I do?"

Ever since Luka's confession two days ago, Marinette had been debating what her next move would be. She really _really_ liked spending time with him, but she didn't want to chance messing up the comfortable friendship they had developed.

"Girl, what do you want to do?" It was killing Alya to keep her mouth shut about Viperion's true identity, but she agreed with Nino that this was something that their friend had to work out on her own. However, that didn't mean that she couldn't give her BFF a little _nudge_ in the right direction. "What would you do if it were, say, Adrien confessing his love to you?"

She was appalled at that idea. "Adrien? Alya, you know I don't like him like that anymore." She shook her head in disgust. "No, even if Adrien were to tell me right now that he was in love with me and wanted to be with me, I'd tell him that we'd just have to stay friends"

"Okay, so it's not the fact that someone likes you, it's the fact that it's Luka who likes you, correct?"

She stopped in her tracks and stared at her chestnut-haired friend. She hadn't thought about it that way before. Maybe she wasn't scared of being in a relationship, maybe she was scared of being in a relationship with Luka specifically. "Why does that scare me so much?" she asked anxiously.

"Girl, you're scared because you're already invested in your relationship with him." She stood up and walked over to grab her friend's hand, pulling her back to sit with her so she could focus on their conversation and not her pacing. "Even though you guys aren't romantically involved yet and he said 'no pressure', you're still worried that if you try to be with him and it doesn't work out, it'll destroy whatever it is you guys have now."

"You're right. It's not worth it. I don't want to lose him."

Seeing the determination on her friend's face, Alya realized that she needed to try a different tactic before Marinette sabotaged any sort of romantic involvement before it even began. "Let's look at this from a different perspective. How would you react if it were Viperion saying that he wanted to be with you. Would you react any differently?"

She knew that she had to tread lightly. She didn't want to reveal everything too soon. She was a little worried about using Marinette's crush on her clanmate against her, but really, the girl was just so dense at times. Sometimes you just had to come right out and smack her across the face with something to make her acknowledge it.

"Viperion? What does he have anything to do with this?"

Alya growled, frustrated at her own decision to keep her mouth shut. "It's a hypothetical question. Purely hypothetical. I asked, 'what if' to make you think about if you would behave differently."

Marinette pondered that question for a few seconds. Would she react differently if it were Viperion? She did really like talking to their reptilian clanmate and she looked forward to playing with him whenever she got a chance to get online. Plus, he had an easygoing nature that made it really easy to open up to him. There were times that she wanted to ask him if they could meet up in real life, but she was comfortable with that degree of separation between them. Crossing that line would make him real, a flesh and blood person instead of a voice behind her screen.

If Viperion expressed an interest in meeting her and cultivating their friendship into something more, would she be so quick to shoot him down and play it safe?

"Honestly? I don't know," she admitted. "I don't know the real Viperion, only what he shares with me online. Just like he doesn't know the real me. We only know what we tell each other."

Alya chuckled softly. "That's true of any relationship we have with another person. It's up to you how much you share with the other person. Just because you don't know what Viperion's face looks like doesn't mean you don't know what his heart looks like."

She looked at her friend in shock. "Wow, Alya. That was kinda deep."

"What can I say?" she retorted with an exaggerated hair flip, "I have my moments."

They both started giggling and the absurdity of Alya's statement. After a few moments, Marinette took a deep breath and continued talking. "To be honest, I think if it were Viperion who had confessed his love to me, I think I would give him a shot."

"Really? So what makes Viperion different than Luka?"

"I don't know. I'm just so comfortable around Viperion. We can laugh and joke around and there's no expectation there for anything else. When I'm with Luka, I can be myself around him, but there's still that, I don't know… pressure? I can't really describe it."

Deciding that she's pushed her friend far enough for one day, Alya changed the subject. "So have you seen Luka since Saturday? Has he been stopping by the bakery like he used to?"

Marinette shook her head. "I think he's giving me space. He invited me to see him perform next Saturday, though."

"Oh my god, you have to go!" she shrieked. "Nino and I will go with you if it'll make you feel better."

"Would you?" she looked relieved. "I was going to ask Adrien if he wanted to come too. Get him out of his house for a night, ya know?"

Alya's nose crinkled as she scowled at her friend. "Really? You think bringing Adrien to go see Luka play is really a good idea?"

Marinette's brows furrowed in response. "Of course. Why wouldn't it be a good idea? He's one of my best friends!"

She sighed at the naïve girl's utter lack of awareness. "If you think it's a good idea, then go ahead and invite him, girl. It's your funeral."

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

To Marinette, she thought of the evolution of her relationship with Adrien Agreste as a marker to indicate how much she had grown up and matured over the years. If someone had told her that she would be able to personally invite him out to join her – and their friends – to a club to watch a band perform without stuttering or making an absolute fool of herself, she would have called that person a liar. When they had been teenagers, there had been something about him that had made her brain short circuit in the most embarrassing of ways.

In a way, she was flabbergasted that the blond boy had never caught on to the way she had felt about him back then. In her mind, her obsession with him had been so painfully obvious to literally everyone except Adrien himself. Maybe he was just that oblivious. Or maybe he had been aware and was ignoring her affection for him in order to avoid a painfully awkward rejection.

It was something that she had wondered about many, many times over the years, but as her attraction for him had waned, she'd decided to just leave it alone and put it behind her.

Once she had moved on and made the conscious decision to be Adrien's friend rather than just another fangirl, they had grown even closer than she had ever imagined. She was aware of the constant pressure he was placed under from his father and she had become a sort of safe haven for him to turn to when the stress of living up to his father's expectations while pursuing his own dream became too much. If she were to be honest with herself, she was honored that she was the person he turned to when he just needed a break from reality.

However, recently she had begun to wonder if he had an ulterior motive for seeking out her company.

Over the past few months, she'd begun to notice that he'd been making more and more excuses to spend time with her, even if it meant squeezing in time between his university classes to drop into the bakery to snag a few pastries before returning to campus across the city. Surely there were other places much closer to his university where he could eat his lunch.

But Marinette never questioned him. She never brought up the lingering glances she caught him giving her. She never confronted him about the casual way he would invade her personal space, even if it was in a platonic way. She was hesitant to rattle the status quo they had been living in for so long, especially if her intuition was wrong. God, that would be embarrassing for him, as well as her.

A trickle of unease ran down her spine when she saw the way Adrien's grin lit up his face when he noticed her approach in front of the club where Luka's band would be performing that night. The sparkle in his eyes was something that she chose to ignore. After all, she was here at the invitation of another man.

'Oh crap,' she thought to herself. 'Now I understand what Alya meant.' She really hoped her utterly brilliant idea of inviting Adrien to watch Luka's performance would not end up blowing up in her face.

As she and Adrien made small talk while waiting for the other half of their group to arrive, Marinette sent up a silent plea to whoever was listening that nothing bad happened tonight.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Once inside the club – turns out it really does help expedite the process when a member of the band gives the bouncer your name in anticipation of your arrival – Marinette and her friends looked around for a good spot to watch the show from. Even though they had gotten there an hour before Luka was supposed to hit the stage, the club was packed.

As she looked around the crowded club, Marinette was impressed. She'd been here before with Alya a few times to unwind after a rough day and it had never been this busy. It was standing room only and the mass of bodies crowding in front of the stage was already nearly impenetrable. Apparently, the band Luka was playing with tonight was more popular than he had led her to believe.

Just when she and her friends had resigned themselves to watching the show from the back of the room, a ripple of movement through the crowd caught her attention. The volume of chatter rose over the pre-recorded music being pumped through the speakers, easily becoming audible over the pounding base that made it feel like her ribs were vibrating with the reverberation.

She strained her eyes in a futile attempt to see what had caused the commotion, but she was too short to see over the heads of so many people.

When Nino nudged her arm with his elbow, she glanced at him in question, but he was too busy waving to someone in the crowd. Just then, Luka himself broke through the sea of bodies and the rift he had opened with his passing closed behind him.

He grinned at the four of them and yelled over the music to be heard. "I'm glad you guys could make it! I wasn't expecting it to be this crowded tonight."

Marinette couldn't help but notice the way that Adrien shifted on his feet to inch just a little closer to her. Luckily, Luka didn't notice the subtle movement due to his attention being focused solely on her. Thankfully, Nino kept the conversation going as he made the necessary introductions, even though she was pretty sure that Luka had met Alya and Adrien before.

They decided to brave the bar in an attempt to get something to drink. Luka stuck to water since he would be playing later and he wanted to have a clear head for the show. The other four, however, ordered bottles of beer to wet their parched throats. The temperature in the club was already becoming oppressive simply from the heat of so many bodies pressed together in one place.

Marinette couldn't prevent the way her cheeks flushed whenever Luka bent over to yell something into her ear. The music was loud enough to invite the intrusion into her personal space, but she was certain that the hand he placed on the small of her back was unnecessary. Welcome, but unnecessary.

While Luka and Marinette stood off to the side and attempted to carry on a conversation in the loud club, Nino and Alya were keeping a careful eye on how their other friend was reacting to the interaction. He wasn't taking it very well if the way he was scowling as he quickly drained his bottle was any indication. They tried to get Adrien's attention away from the couple talking next to the bar, but even as he half heartedly listened to them talk, his eyes never once strayed from their dark-haired companion. Or the hand pressing gently on her back.

Alya and Nino grew more concerned as Adrien ordered three more bottles of beer and emptied them before Luka motioned to them for them to follow him. Adrien tipped his head back to drain his last bottle and slammed it on the bar before following their group.

Using the dense crowd as a flimsy and utterly transparent excuse, Luka grabbed Marinette's hand and led her through the crowd to get closer to the stage. With her free hand, she grabbed Alya by the arm, who grabbed onto Nino with her own spare hand. Nino, in turn, snagged the last reluctant member of their party and weaved their way up to the front of the crowd.

When they were in the front, right in the middle of the stage, Luka leaned in one last time. "I've got to go finish setting up. We'll be starting soon, but I wanted to make sure you had the best seat in the house for this."

Marinette's heart fluttered. He really was so sweet, sacrificing time he should have spent preparing for the concert to make sure that she was taken care of. She shooed him playfully and he gave her arm one last squeeze before making his way backstage.

They didn't have to wait long before the house lights dimmed and the spotlights illuminated the stage. The roar of the crowd was deafening when Luka and he other members of the band stepped on stage.

If she thought he was cute under normal circumstances, the moment he stepped on stage, her jaw – and her IQ – dropped. He was wearing simple clothes, nothing fancy since he wasn't a full-time member of the band and he didn't want to attract too much attention away from the main members: ripped jeans and a shredded black t-shirt with a pair of Converse sneakers on his feet. But the moment he pinned her with his eyes, Marinette's brain ceased to function. He had heavily outlined his ocean-blue eyes with eyeliner and the way he looked at her did things to her insides that she didn't want to acknowledge. He was freaking _hot._

Marinette joined in and cheered for Luka; she hadn't learned what the band was called, so she just screamed his name when the vocalist, a tall, slender girl with wild, jet-black hair introduced each member of the band.

The way he winked at her as he slung the strap of his guitar over his shoulder made her mouth go dry. Seriously, it should be illegal for someone to look that good holding a guitar.

From the moment the band started playing the first song, Marinette was mesmerized. Hearing Luka play at her parent's bakery and in her room had shown her that he had talent, but seeing him on stage, playing with a full band, gave her a whole new appreciation for his skill. The way his fingers danced over the strings of his instrument was a thing of beauty to behold and the way he moved so confidently around the stage told her that this was who Luka truly was.

Gone was the quiet boy who liked to tease her and who she had always considered a bit of a flirt. This boy – no, this man – was sex incarnate. He knew exactly what he was doing with his fingers on his instrument and the dexterity he displayed (as well as the heated way he looked down at her from the stage) made her think about what else he could do with those nimble fingers.

She shook her head to get rid of those intrusive thoughts. She looked up just in time to see him wink at her and smirk knowingly. It was like he knew exactly what she had been thinking about.

The band continued playing, sending the crowd into an absolute frenzy. People around her were dancing and jumping and screaming and Marinette was loving every second of it.

Until she felt someone drape their arms around her shoulders, holding her in an unwelcome embrace from behind.

She turned her head to see Adrien grinning at her from mere inches away. In all their time together, as casual as their physical interactions had been, he'd never been so bold when touching her. It was something she truly respected about him as a person; he knew where the line was. Until now.

She looked to her other side to see if she could get Alya's help, but her friend was too wrapped up in the energy of the crowd to notice her predicament. She reached up and grabbed Adrien's wrists, aiming to gently pry his arms away from her, but he only took that as an invitation to cuddle her closer.

She looked up to the stage with a panicked expression. Sure enough, Luka had noticed what was going on. He walked across the stage, never missing a beat, and crouched down to where she was standing. He locked eyes with Adrien and growled, "Let her go. Now."

The singer's vocals were loud enough that nobody around them realized what was happening. To the casual observer, he was just interacting with the crowd. But to Marinette's immense relief, Luka's actions had caused not only Adrien to release his hold of her shoulders but had also attracted Alya and Nino's attention to the drama that was unfolding between their two other friends.

Thankfully, once that situation had been diffused, the rest of the concert had gone off without a hitch, but Adrien's actions made it abundantly clear to Marinette that she would be having a serious discussion with her friend about boundaries and personal space.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

As the club emptied out after the show, Marinette and company were waiting by the bar for Luka to make another appearance. After a few short minutes, he walked up, reached behind the bar to snag a bottle of water that was waiting for him, and drained half of it before he turned to them.

"So, what did you think of the show?"

Marinette beamed at him. She didn't think her smile could stretch any further across her face. "Luka, you were amazing! How are you not famous by now?"

He chuckled at her enthusiastic reaction. "I don't want to be famous. I like my peaceful life." He shrugged his shoulders and took another sip of his water. "I just want to play my music and live in peace."

While Nino and Alya exclaimed over how good the show was, Marinette could feel the daggers that Adrien was staring at Luka. As time passed and his gaze turned darker and darker, she had had enough.

Just as she was about to confront him about his attitude, Luka reached out and place his hand on her shoulder. "I hate to do this, but I've got to help them break the equipment down. Do you think I can stop by your place when I'm done?"

Pulling her phone out of her purse, she checked the time. It was only 10:30pm, so she nodded and told him she'd be waiting for him in the bakery.

With a final thanks to everyone for coming to see him perform, Luka strode off to join the band and clear the stage of equipment.

When they all left the club, Alya and Nino were hesitant to leave Marinette and Adrien alone, especially considering Adrien's erratic behavior earlier and his questionable sobriety. But Marinette told them not to worry and sent them on their way, giving Alya a pointed stare that managed to convey that she was going to be having a very serious conversation with Adrien about what had transpired that night.

So it was with a little concern – and a promise to text when Marinette made it home safely – that Nino and Alya made their way home, watching as Marinette and Adrien walked in the opposite direction towards the DuPain-Cheng bakery.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

_*This chapter gave me soo much trouble. The first half I just absolutely hated, but I absolutely flew through the second half. I've been wanting to write Luka's concert for like, ever and personally, I love how it came out. And while I wasn't planning on Adrien acting like a possessive jerk initially, I think it kinda fit. So, I'm sorry if he seems OOC, but I love it and that's all that matters haha._

_I'd like to apologize for it taking me so freaking long to get this out. Now that I'm not dying of the flu anymore, I'm working so much more, picking up all sorts of shifts to cover for the people who can't work now because they don't have childcare and the kids here are still out of school. I count myself extremely fortunate that I'm still able to work (I'm a home healthcare provider), so I'm not taking that for granted. _

_Special thanks as always for those who have followed and favorited this story of mine. It sincerely touches me that you like this utter trash that I'm creating and I couldn't be happier. And as always, an extra special shout out to my ever faithful reviewers: __**XandraRis, Fanfictions4ever, **__and __**beardancing4.**__ I'm always so excited to see what you guys have to say about the new chapters and I so look forward to your feedback. I love you guys so much!_

_The next chapter will be exciting for me to write. Marinette confronts Adrien with his stupid behavior and Luka sees something he shouldn't._

_Until next time, my lovelies XOXO*_


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